Rugby: Moody describes disastrous World Cup campaign

Lewis Moody. Photo / Brett Phibbs

The England rugby captain has slammed his Rugby World Cup players and said he should have banned them all from boozy nights out during the campaign.

Lewis Moody retired from international rugby after his shambolic England team were knocked out of the tournament by France in the quarter-finals.

The tour was marred by poor performances on the pitch and numerous high-profile off-field incidents - the most distracting involving former skipper Mike Tindall in a late-night conversation with a "mystery blonde'' in a Queenstown bar during its now infamous 'Mad Midget Weekender'.

The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is currently conducting a review of the players' conduct during the tournament after the series of incidents, including accusations of drunkenness in Queenstown and inappropriate comments to a hotel worker.

Now, 33-year-old Moody has criticised his former teammates in his new book, Mad Dog: An Englishman, which was serialised in UK newspaper Mail On Sunday.

The flanker described the experience as a "disaster.''

He wrote: "If I could change one thing, knowing some of the characters we had in that squad, it would be to have banned them from going out at all.

"It is impossible to say how much impact the off-field stories had on our performances. But clearly they didn't help.''

Moody questioned the attitude and antics of some of the players who "believed they were invincible.''

He says: "I had been growing concerned about the attitude in the camp, which had become apparent pretty much from the moment we arrived in Auckland.

"To be an international sportsman, you need to be honest. There had been so much good in my career but England's 2011 World Cup campaign was a disaster.

"For many, it will be remembered for the off-field incidents. I maintain that they were blown up and taken out of context but, at the same time, I concede that some of the behaviour was, at best, naive and, at worst, totally unacceptable.''

Moody was present at the highly-publicised Queenstown night out, but left early in the evening. He claims England had been "too free-spirited'' and had "got burned'' as a result.

He says Tindall, who is married to the Queen's grand-daughter Zara Phillips, did nothing wrong and that CCTV images showing him with a woman, which he described as "an old friend'', were blown out of proportion.

Moody added: "We were on the other side of the world, a lot of the guys were young, well-known, wealthy and believed they were invincible. I remember thinking that some were not quite in the right mind-set.

"I have to take some responsibility. As captain, it was my watch and I don't think I helped by introducing awards for things like joke of the day, brown-nose of the day and dick of the day. It was designed to inject some fun but instead added to the feeling that everything was being taken too light-heartedly. After a week I canned the awards.''

Despite a team meeting after the wave of bad press, the controversies kept coming. Coaches Dave Alred and Paul Stridgeon were suspended for a game after illegally changing balls and centre Manu Tuilagi was given a warning by Auckland police for disorderly behaviour after jumping from a ferry as it was about to berth.