Aussies will confront haka, says Cannon

Brendan Cannon and his Australian team-mates have promised to meet the haka face-to-face in Saturday's semifinal in Sydney.

The traditional All Blacks challenge has been received in many ways, with South Africa last week standing, arms linked, and singing their national anthem.

Past Australia sides have completely ignored it. But that will not happen this weekend.

"We will just confront it, give it the respect it deserves and then have that moment in time to prepare ourselves for the next 80 minutes," hooker Cannon said.

"It is one of those special honours, to see first hand how much the haka means to them.

"We don't turn our back on it because that is disrespectful. We are ready for the challenge."