Having failed to learn their lesson after the dwarf-throwing, motorboating antics in Queenstown, the English rugby team have stepped over the line off the field in New Zealand once again.
England’s time in the Land of the Long White Cloud has been marred by a litany of disagreeable incidents, from the drunken antics in a bar in Queenstown that landed Mike Tindall in trouble with the missus, to the Jonny Wilkinson ball-tampering saga that led to the suspension of two England coaches and caused the Rugby World Cup authorities to threaten Martin Johnson’s side with expulsion from the competition.
The latest episode of bad behaviour involved three members of the squad, Dylan Hartley, the swallow diving Chris Ashton and James Haskell, who have been officially reprimanded over their conduct towards a female hotel worker in Dunedin.
All three players were forced to formally apologise to hotel worker Annabel Newton, who was subject to lewd comments from all three players. Newton said that the players “treated me with no respect” after she was summoned to retrieve a walkie-talkie in a bedroom at the Southern Cross Hotel in the city.
Manager Martin Johnson has admitted that he left the players “in no doubt” about his anger and said that they were on their final warning after Newton made a complaint about the conduct of the English players.
“I was angry with them,” said Johnson.
“It is just the sort of thing we have talked about. What they thought was humour and a light-hearted exchange has clearly not been taken that way by Annabel, the girl involved. At the time they apologised when they realised they had stepped over the mark.
“They were shocked when they understood how upset she had become. They have been reprimanded for their behaviour and left in no doubt. If you leave yourself open for these headlines to be written it drags us all into it and that is what makes me particularly angry.”
Meanwhile, it has also emerged that Tindall was not entirely forthcoming about exactly what happened on that infamous night in Queenstown, where he was captured on CCTY cameras nestling his head in the bosoms of a mystery blonde, who he claims is a long-term friend of Tindall and royal wife Zara Phillips.
A spokesman for Tindall said the player had apologised for giving a misleading account of his evening activities in Queenstown last month after it became clear that Tindall visited a second bar in Queenstown, with the aforementioned mystery blonde.
Speaking about the Tindall issue, Johnson said that Tindall had merely been “inaccurate in his recollection of the events of the night” and that he had not attempted an “orchestrated cover-up” of his raucous activities.
“His (Tindall’s) recollection is wrong of where he’s been, and the order he’s in there, and that is what it is,” said Johnson.
“There’s video footage that was available at the time so I don’t think he’d be foolish enough to think he could get away with lying because of the situation he’s in and the evidence that’s available. So I think it’s an innocent mistake and his recollection was incorrect.”
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