The full extent of England's Rugby World Cup shambles has been laid bare following the leaking of confidential reports into events in New Zealand. Players and Rugby Football Union officials have both accused some squad members of being more interested in "getting cash and caps than about getting better on the pitch" while Martin Johnson's managerial failings have also been heavily criticised.
The three reviews – conducted by the RFU's director of elite rugby, Rob Andrew, the players' union and the professional clubs – were never intended for public consumption but the contents paint a damning picture of a divided squad whose priorities, in some cases, did not appear to be winning the tournament.
Among the evidence gathered by the Rugby Players' Association, who received feedback from 90% of the players, was a complaint by one player about a colleague's reaction in the dressing room – "There's £35,000 just gone down the toilet" – following the quarter-final defeat to France in Auckland. The player concerned said the response "made me sick. Money shouldn't even come into a player's mind."
It has also been confirmed that the RFU was held to ransom by the players before the tournament began, with the squad threatening to boycott the eve-of-departure dinner. "It is very disappointing that a senior group, led by Lewis Moody, disputed the level of payment for the World Cup squad, which led to meetings with RFU executives," Andrew said in a report leaked to the Times. "I believe this led to a further unsettling of the squad just before departure, which included a threat by the squad not to attend the World Cup send-off dinner at Twickenham. It suggested that some of the senior players were more focused on money than getting the rugby right."
There were also accusations that senior colleagues indulged in drinking games and poked fun at those who committed wholeheartedly to training. Johnson, who resigned as team manager last week, was the subject of particular criticism for failing to deal adequately with the fallout from the drunken night out in Queenstown, which saw Mike Tindall belatedly fined for his conduct.
The players union' report noted there had been "a lack of action which reflected his inexperience. Therefore primarily he must bear considerable responsibility for these failures." One of the players added: "I suppose we just wanted Johnno to have the bollocks to take action, especially after the Tindall night. He was too loyal and that was his downfall."
The release of the reports will cause huge embarrassment at Twickenham. They were due to form the major part of the Professional Game Board's report to the RFU's management board next week but the full scale of the fiasco is now in the public domain.
Among other complaints made by the players was a lack of SAS-style security. "It was a mistake not to have any security people like in 2003 and 2007," said one senior player. "This time we had two old fellas and one guy who was rumoured to have told someone the night out incident in Queenstown involving Tindall would be worth £100,000 from a newspaper."
