diff --git a/site/plugin.jelly b/site/plugin.jelly
index ddf80a6f..e1420a19 100644
--- a/site/plugin.jelly
+++ b/site/plugin.jelly
@@ -262,7 +262,7 @@
     </j:if>
     <!-- Note: trailing slash is important! -->
     <exec dir="." executable="${maven.rsync.executable}" failonerror="${maven.site.failonerror}">
-      <arg line="-az ${rsyncArgs} ${relativeDocsDest}/ ${siteUsername}@${siteAddress}:${siteDirectory}" />
+      <arg line="${rsyncArgs} ${relativeDocsDest}/ ${siteUsername}@${siteAddress}:${siteDirectory}" />
     </exec>
     
     <echo>Updating files modes on the remote host</echo>
@@ -332,7 +332,7 @@
           <j:set var="rsyncArgs" value="${rsyncArgs} --delete" />
         </j:if>
         <exec dir="." executable="${maven.ssh.executable}" failonerror="${maven.site.failonerror}">
-          <arg line="${maven.ssh.args} -l ${siteUsername} ${siteAddress}  '${maven.rsync.executable} ${rsyncArgs} -az ${siteDirectory}/* ${destSiteUsername}@${destSiteAddress}:${destSiteDirectory}'" />
+          <arg line="${maven.ssh.args} -l ${siteUsername} ${siteAddress}  '${maven.rsync.executable} ${rsyncArgs} ${siteDirectory}/* ${destSiteUsername}@${destSiteAddress}:${destSiteDirectory}'" />
         </exec>
       </j:otherwise>
     </j:choose> 
diff --git a/site/plugin.properties b/site/plugin.properties
index 850b4020..16c0fd16 100644
--- a/site/plugin.properties
+++ b/site/plugin.properties
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ maven.site.failonerror=true
 maven.site.reports.ignoreErrors=false
 
 maven.rsync.executable=rsync
+maven.rsync.args=-az
 
 maven.username=USERNAME_NOT_SET
 
diff --git a/site/xdocs/changes.xml b/site/xdocs/changes.xml
index 804fb67b..b6e64fee 100644
--- a/site/xdocs/changes.xml
+++ b/site/xdocs/changes.xml
@@ -24,7 +24,8 @@
     <author email="dion@multitask.com.au">dIon Gillard</author> 
   </properties>  
   <body> 
-    <release version="1.7.2-SNAPSHOT" date="In SVN"> 
+    <release version="1.7.2-SNAPSHOT" date="In SVN">
+      <action dev="aheritier" type="update">Do not force -az options for rsync. maven.rsync.args=-az by default but can be overriden.</action> 
       <action dev="aheritier" type="fix">maven.rsync.args isn't used by site:rsyncdeploy.</action> 
     </release>  
     <release version="1.7.1" date="2007-03-28"> 
diff --git a/site/xdocs/properties.xml b/site/xdocs/properties.xml
index b7401848..09ca001f 100644
--- a/site/xdocs/properties.xml
+++ b/site/xdocs/properties.xml
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@
           <td>maven.rsync.args</td>
           <td>Yes</td>
           <td>
-            Specifies optional parameters that are passed to the rsync executable (in addition to -az).
+            Specifies parameters that are passed to the rsync executable. Default : -az.
           </td>
         </tr>
         <tr>
