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RWC2011

Regretful Moody would have stopped English players from having any fun

Lewis Moody says he’d have prohibited England’s players from going out drinking if he had his time back.

LEWIS MOODY HAS stated the obvious and said that England’s players should not have gone out drinking during the recent Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.

Martin Johnson’s side drew controversy in the pool stages on a drunken night out in Queensland, with Mike Tindall – married to the Queen’s granddaughter Zara Phillips – in particular coming under the tabloid gaze.

The team’s captain Moody said that alarm bells were ringing for him early in the tournament, and that he would have banned nights out if he’d had the authority. England exited the World Cup after losing in the quarter-finals to France.

“I had been growing concerned about the attitude in the camp, which had become apparent pretty much from the moment we arrived in Auckland,” Moody said in his book, ‘Mad Dog: An Englishman,’ which is being serialised in the Mail on Sunday.

“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.”

As well as the night at the ‘Mad Midget Weekender,’ 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 after he jumped from a ferry.

“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,” added Moody.

The 33-year-old retired from the England team after the end of the World Cup.

For more information, click on the Mail website here >

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