KEY POINTS:
Howick College 1st XV rugby players could be suspended from the school after revelations that they were caught drinking hours before a teammate died at their London hostel.
Ross Kimpton, 17, was fatally injured in a fall from a fourth-storey window of The Lodge in Norfolk Square at the weekend.
His parents, Murray and Teresa Kimpton, dairy farmers from the Manukau City rural area of Brookby, have flown to London to bring home their son's body.
Acting Howick College principal Sheryll Ofner told the Herald the team, who are on a tour of England and Ireland, were being disciplined after the hostel manager reported to the media that there had been a party on the night of Ross's death that had caused other guests to complain. Ms Ofner said the 1st XV players breached a contract - also signed by their parents - stating the boys would not drink alcohol on the tour despite some of them being of legal age.
But the tour manager, a teacher, had walked into a room and found the boys drinking beer hours before Ross's death, she said.
"They have had their privileges withdrawn, which means that they have to do things like have all their meals with the teachers, and any outings. They have to be with the teachers all the time."
Because the boys were overseas and had decided to continue with the tour, any further disciplinary action would be decided when they returned to Auckland.
Asked if the boys could face suspension, Ms Ofner said: "We can only do what is feasible when they are on the other side of the world. We would certainly be looking at the situation when they get back.
"Certainly it will be discussed as a possibility. There's a range of things like stand-downs and suspensions, as you know," she said.
"From the college's point of view, I am extremely disappointed that the students broke their contract around the alcohol and I have made that clear to the teacher in charge. It's totally unacceptable."
Ms Ofner said the tour manager had told her another party had been held at the hostel that night which had "absolutely nothing to do with them [the boys]".
"When the accident occurred several hours later, what I do know is that our students were all fast asleep and had to be woken up and that is why we don't know what happened."
