In fairness to England, they have kept up a phenomenal pace at the Rugby World Cup. After their first game they had the infamous Mike Tindall ‘motorboating and dwarves’ debacle, a story that still rumbles on.
Since then they had the controversy over switching balls that led to two backroom staff being sent home and then they followed it up last week with three players (James Haskell, Dylan Hartley and Chris Ashton) being forced to apologise to hotel worker Annabel Newton for lecherous remarks made to her.
Today brings more controversy, and more reasons for Martin Johnson to develop an ulcer the size of a rugby ball. This time it is star centre Manu Tuilagi who is at fault.
The bruising behemoth has been fined $10,000 New Zealand (about €5,500) for wearing an illegal mouthguard, one that displays the name of a sponsor prominently, breaking the very strictly controlled rules around ambush marketing.
Tuilagi sported the offending ite in England’s first two games, against Argentina and Georgia. Funnily enough, last week a Samoan player was fined for the same offence. His name? Alesana Tuilagi, Manu’s brother.
Both brothers are managed by another brother, Freddie, but Manu denied there was any campaign involved.
“I didn’t know I had worn the wrong gumshield and I got fined for it,” Tuilagi said.
“We always wore the same mouthguard, mine is the England one from the under-18s but it’s got ‘Opro’ on the front and that’s not allowed in the World Cup.
“I coloured it in with marker pen for the Romania game. I wore it against Argentina but they didn’t know.”
This incident is not on a par with the others that the England have brought on themselves but it adds to the sense of chaos around the camp. Luckily, they play France next, and when it comes to chaos, they are probably still ahead.
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