A SAUCY calendar which featured Canterbury’s female rugby players doing a topless Maori warrior dance has sparked uproar in New Zealand.

Maoris have accused the team of defiling the sacred Haka, the warrior dance the New Zealand team performs before the start of matches.

The senior women’s rugby team created the calendar in an effort to raise money for their club and to make a donation to a breast cancer charity.

The photo at the centre of the furore shows players caked in mud and wearing just shorts and socks as they complete the final move of the warrior dance.

But Dr Poia Rewi, senior lecturer in the school of Maori studies at Otago University, branded the picture a “misuse of the Haka”.

Speaking to Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald, he said: “I think Maori would be offended by this.”

Maori Party co-leader Dr Pita Sharples added: “There’s two issues here – doing the Haka and doing it topless.

“The Haka is sacred to us and we do it in the proper way at different times, but if people imitate it then we’re fair game to be imitated.”

Abraham Pera, a Maori who manages Canterbury’s Seven Stars pub, is aware of the controversy brewing in his native New Zealand.

“I’m really not surprised about this because it is a male war dance which should not be performed by women,” he said.

Professional photographer Alexa Kent, who plays second row and flanker for the team, took the calendar photos.

She said there had never been any intention to cause any offence.

“The calendar has been very well received in this country and has featured in local and national newspapers,” she said.

“I’m surprised at how badly it has been received in New Zealand. It was never an attempt to mimic the Haka and was really just a bit of fun.”

So far 500 of the calendars have been sold. They also feature shots of the rugby players in the shower and one with bits of tape concealing their modesty.