Former Australia and Queensland rugby league star Billy Moore is feeling the heat after describing the New Zealand Warriors' play as "coconut style".



Moore made the Polynesian slur on Fox Sports' NRL 360 on Thursday night when discussing how the Warriors would cope without injured star Shaun Johnson.



"They play that coconut style, Polynesian sort of football…throwing it around," Moore said on air.



His comments sparked an immediate uproar on Twitter with many questioning if the former origin great was being racist.



TV3 Sports producer Tony Wright tweeted: "Billy Moore's exact words on the @NZWarriors on live TV 'They play that coconut style, Polynesian sort of football... throwing it around.'"



Matthew McKinnon asked: "Billy Moore just call Polynesians coconuts?@FOXNRLLive."

Moore's poor choice of words follows a week where racism in sport has been under the spotlight in New Zealand and Australia.

Canterbury Rugby Union (CRU) management and police are investigating an alleged incident of racial abuse of a Fijian rugby player during a senior club final on Sunday.

Christchurch player Sake Aca, who is the Christchurch club's wing, left the field in tears after racial abuse from a sideline spectator - or spectators - during the second half of the match against Lincoln University at Rugby Park.

"They called me a black c***, an idiot, and they used the f word," Aca said earlier.

Meanwhile the booing of Aboriginal AFL player Adam Goodes is being hotly debated across the Tasman,a story which gathered more momentum on Thursday when Goodes was blasted by former Australian cricketer Shane Warne.

Moore, a Queenslander by birth, made his named in club football with the North Sydney Bears from 1989 to 1999 and in 2006 was named in the club's Team of the Century.

In his playing years he also became a stalwart of the Maroons and was responsible for the famous "Queenslander, Queenslander" chat which he roared coming down the tunnel ahead of the 1995 State of Origin series, one an under-rated Queensland won 3-0 over New South Wales.

He made three appearance for the Kangaroos but never faced the Kiwis in a test match. Today he is a regular panelist on Fox Sports' NRL coverage.