Rugby World Cup: England upset over headphones

Chris Robshaw and other England players were not allowed to wear Beats by Dre headphones when travelling to games. Photo / Getty Images

Following England's unfortunate performance in the Rugby World Cup, it has been revealed that some players were unhappy with a sponsor's restriction on their choice of headphones.

The squad, sponsored by Korean electronics giant Samsung, were told they could only wear headphones made by the brand when travelling to games - which left some players forbidden from wearing their favourite Beats by Dre headphones.

"It may seem like a small thing but some of the guys owned 'Beats by Dr Dre' headphones but they were told they could not wear them when they got off the bus and walked to the changing rooms as part of their pre-match routine," a source told the Telegraph.

"The RFU were that sensitive to Samsung at that micro level but it was an issue with some of the players. A lot of them had their own headphones but couldn't use them."

The Telegraph also reported that the RFU's commercial department was angered after England's captain, Chris Robshaw, took part in a high profile campaign for Beats by Dre which was released at the start of the World Cup.

All Blacks captain Richie McCaw also took part in the Beats by Dre campaign, appearing in a short commercial which shows him practising a haka in preparation for the Rugby World Cup.

However, the Rugby Football Union is powerless to stop players taking part in commercial activities when they are not yet playing with the national team - and England head coach Stuart Lancaster was adamant that commercial commitments did not affect the team's performance.

"We recognise that we have commercial obligations, as do every team," he said on Tuesday. "You can't ignore those because commercial partners put a huge amount of investment into the game.

"The big problem we had in 2011 was the poorly coordinated timing of commercial appearances. I can categorically say that the balance this time could not have been planned any better. It definitely wasn't a factor affecting performance."

- nzherald.co.nz