Spygate court case: Kieran Read backs security guard Adrian Gard

Kieran Read, right, has defended All Blacks security guard Adrian Gard. Photos / AAP, Brett Phibbs

The All Blacks captain has backed the security guard accused of making up claims about finding a bugging device at the team's Sydney hotel in August last year.

Kieran Read, giving evidence on the phone from his room at the InterContinental Hotel in Double Bay on Friday, told the Downing Centre Local Court he believed security guard Adrian Gard was "honest and loyal".

Read said he and the New Zealand team respected "Gardy" for his professionalism and the great way he did his job without hurting the team's "brand".

Gard, who has been acting as a security guard in Australia for the All Blacks for more than a decade, has pleaded not guilty to making a false representation resulting in a police investigation into the bug.

He claimed to have found the listening device secreted in a chair in the team's meeting room at the InterContinental Hotel on August 15 last year.

Read told the court he had known Gard since 2009 and described him as a "pretty good man".

He said Gard had been part of the All Blacks group for quite a long time and he had always been completely honest.

"The team sees him as very professional," Read said on Friday, who is with the NZ team as they prepare to face the Wallabies in the first of the three-match Bledisloe Cup series. "He turns up and does the job really well. He's honest and loyal.

"The guys really respect what he does."

Read would usually see Gard every day before training and most nights he would come to dinner with the team when they were in Australia.

He said the security guard also spent between six to seven weeks with the team during the 2015 World Cup in England.

Read said he was aware of the allegations against Gard and he had been at the hotel on August 15 when the bug sweep took place.

The All Blacks waited for five days before calling in the police as they had hoped to avoid the media getting involved.