'You could have been killed, Manu'

Apologetic: Manu Tuilagi
10 April 2012

Manu Tuilagi flew home with the rest of his team-mates today after risking his life in a stupid stunt that summed up England's failed World Cup campaign in New Zealand.

The Leicester centre was told he had narrowly avoided a potentially "tragic" accident after he dived from a moving ferry backing into the busy Auckland Harbour that landed him with a £3,000 fine and a warning from the police.

Team manager Martin Johnson has seen his players let him down a staggering eight times during England's failed World Cup campaign which ended with Saturday's 19-12 defeat by France.

Johnson fined Tuilagi and warned him about his future conduct after the 20-year-old marked the conclusion of a visit to a winery restaurant by agreeing to swim the short distance to the pier from the back of the Fullers ferry returning from Waiheke Island.

Fullers general manager Warren Fowler said the ferry had turned 180 degrees and was about to reverse to its berth. He added: "It could have been tragic with vessels coming in and someone jumping off the back of one when it is going to be reversing shortly."

Tuilagi was detained by police after swimming a short distance to Pier Three at the ferry terminal.

He said: "I'm really sorry. It was a silly thing to do and I apologise to everybody for any inconvenience."

For Johnson it was just the latest in a long line of off-the-field problems that have disfigured England's campaign and left him in danger of being dumped as team manager after three years in the job. "This was an irresponsible thing to do," he said. "Manu has been disciplined internally and I have warned him about his future conduct."

The fine will be paid to the Rugby World Cup's Christchurch earthquake appeal. Auckland Police spokeswoman, Noreen Hegarty, said: "A member of the England team jumped off a passenger ferry and swam a short distance to Pier Three at the terminal at 6.48pm last night.

"As he climbed ashore he was met by police officers before being taken to the Auckland Central police station and held for around an hour and a half. He was formally warned about the offence of disorderly behaviour before being released back to the team management. There is no suggestion he was pushed from the vessel."

Tuilagi was also, earlier this month, fined £4,800 by the International Rugby Board for wearing an unapproved mouthguard carrying the name of a sponsor. He came into the tournament having served a five-week ban for punching England team-mate Chris Ashton in Leicester's match with Northampton in May. The England players left Auckland for Heathrow in the pouring rain with the locals glad to see the back of the worst-behaved team in the tournament, whose other indiscretions included Mike Tindall's boozy night with a blonde woman and three players reprimanded for lewd comments to a female hotel worker.

Martyn Thomas, the acting Rugby Football Union chief executive, responded to the squad's behaviour by saying: "People will forgive perhaps the poor performances but you do expect that moral standards are maintained."

Johnson had earlier said: "The off-the-field stuff doesn't reflect what this team is. There are some good people there. They have done a lot of good stuff on and off the pitch. Off field is 0.0001 per cent."

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