Manu overboard as England campaign sinks

When Manu Tuilagi jumped off an Auckland ferry he summed up an England World Cup campaign that, if not sinking without trace, will be remembered for dubious off-field behaviour rather than the team's rugby.

Tuilagi was merely the latest player to embarrass coach Martin Johnson at a World Cup which ended with a 19-12 quarter-final loss to France on Saturday - England's worst result at the tournament since 1999.

Whether it was drunken antics involving 'mystery' blondes and dwarf-tossing, inappropriate conduct towards hotel staff, or Tuilagi's leap, England made unwanted headlines again in New Zealand after their 2008 tour was overshadowed by 'sex scandal' claims.

It was all too easy for their critics to make a connection between poor off-field and on-field discipline.

England, who had to come from behind to beat both Argentina and Scotland, conceded numerous penalties while both lock Courtney Lawes and wing Delon Armitage missed matches following bans for foul play.

Even two England coaches, Dave Alred and Paul Stridgeon, were banned for a match after swapping rugby balls for misfiring kicker Jonny Wilkinson during the pool win over Romania.

So Tuilagi's jump into Auckland harbour, from a boat carrying the team a day after their defeat to France, and his police warning for "disorderly behaviour", was entirely in keeping with England's campaign.

Now even if the England squad had all lived like ultra-professional fly-half Wilkinson, renowned for his dedication to training, they might still have lost to France last weekend.

However, the question that should nag away at some England players is did they all give themselves the best chance of success?

For example, members of the Wales team, who this weekend will play France in a World Cup semifinal, took it upon themselves to impose an alcohol ban after several unsavoury incidents in Britain.

But before England left for New Zealand, Johnson, made it clear he wouldn't be following suit.

"When I started playing rugby at senior level you were dealing with blokes," Johnson said. "They treated us like adults and there is no reason to change that now they are professionals."

Unfortunately for Johnson, England's 2003 World Cup-winning captain, while "adults" and "blokes" may have been interchangeable words in his playing days, this tournament suggested they no longer were.

Remarkably it was veteran centre Mike Tindall, who ought to have been aware of the potential pitfalls of fame having recently married Queen Elizabeth II's granddaughter Zara Phillips, to find himself in hot water first.

The 2003 World Cup-winner was pictured in a Queenstown bar with a woman, later said to be an "old friend" by those close to the England centre.

Tindall initially said he was only in one bar with the woman until photo evidence emerged showing them in a second bar where they "behaved like a smooching teenage couple", according to media reports.

Before the second photo emerged, Johnson had dismissed the incident by saying: "Rugby player drinks beer, shocker".

But Johnson did ruefully accept the increased scrutiny top sportsmen now face, be it from fans with cameras in phones, or, as in Tindall's case, leaked security footage.

However, it was a video camera in the care of England flanker James Haskell, to be used for an official team diary, that caused perhaps the most serious of all the squad's off-field problems.

A woman working at the team's hotel in Dunedin said three players, of whom Haskell was one, had shouted lewd comments as they tried to film her after she, during the normal course of her job, had entered a bedroom.

What made Haskell's involvement all the more incredible was that as a teenager he was suspended from Wellington College, one of England's top schools, after lending a camera to a friend who used it to film a sex tape.

However, there were signs some England players understood all was not well with Shontayne Hape, speaking before Tuilagi's ill-advised leap, saying a "couple of the guys have let the squad down".

And fellow back Toby Flood acknowledged: "You're in a World Cup. There's a lot more fuss, a lot more that goes on with it. You have to be accountable for what happens in life."

But even after 'Dwarfgate', one New Zealander, in conversation with former England hooker Brian Moore, could see the way the World Cup was heading for Johnson's men.

"What you Poms (English) should be asking is if Tindall can toss a dwarf, why can't he pass a ball?"
 

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