Trouble follows English rugby around like a faithful labrador. By any standards this has been a turbulent season for the Rugby Football Union and, as the team management await the findings of Auckland police, there is no immediate sign of a happy ending. When the nightly news bulletins lead with the 'England Scandal' rather than the latest from the middle east, it is impossible for players to focus purely on the mundane details of training and preparation.
From the sparse statement read out by Rob Andrew in Christchurch Town Hall to the polite refusal of the squad's legal adviser Richard Smith to confirm or deny anything, it was pretty clear that England officials are treating the matter with absolute seriousness. So are the Auckland constabulary, with numerous police sighted at the Hilton Hotel on the city's harbour-front where an incident is said to have occurred in the early hours of Sunday morning.
To be fair to Andrew, the RFU's elite rugby director, there was nothing more he could have said. There is a big difference between rugby players misbehaving on tour and, at the most extreme end of the scale, facing a potential charge. This is the kind of situation every sporting official dreads: a diplomatic incident on foreign soil, police involvement, intense media scrutiny. If England had won the first Test instead of slipping to a 37-20 defeat it would also have helped. This is the most English of New Zealand's major cities but the tourists suddenly feel an awfully long way from home.
It also extends a grim sequence of red rose angst in the southern hemisphere. When England won the 2003 World Cup in Sydney they never imagined their successors would be beaten in every subsequent Test played down south for the next five years. Add in the Lions tour under Sir Clive Woodward in 2005 and the roll of dishonour is even longer. Vomiting bugs in South Africa, disciplinary hassles in New Zealand and wounding defeats in Australia have all sapped the spirits. Four different team bosses have held the reins in as many years, with a fifth - Martin Johnson - about to assume the position. Throughout all the uncertainty the players' behaviour has never been an issue.
Without prejudging anyone or anything, it is yet another symptom of the decline in England's global image since Johnson lifted the Webb Ellis Trophy in Sydney. Woodward could not subsequently rekindle the magic and his successor Andy Robinson disappeared into the Twickenham committee-room quicksand, never fully to emerge. When Brian Ashton took over it was in a fire-fighting capacity, his country's stock having fallen so steeply he had barely enough time in which to cobble together a competitive team for last year's World Cup defence in France. To reach a World Cup final from the precarious platform he inherited was an extraordinary triumph of willpower in adversity.
So how can it be that England have once again fallen from grace in the space of eight months? It is not Ashton's fault. The decision to deprive him of his role as England's head coach still reverberates, not least because of the vacuum it left behind. Johnson is at home following the birth of his second child and does not officially take over until July 1. His first task will be to name a 32-man EPS squad which may, or may not, contain some of the players currently under the microscope. It is hardly the most auspicious way to start a new job.
Some of the blame must be shouldered by the RFU. The union gambled that sacking Ashton would clear the air and reckoned the senior team could muddle through until Johnson arrived. Instead the decision to oust Ashton left senior staff open to accusations of back-stabbing and several players have publicly expressed disappointment at the callous treatment of a decent man. Since arriving in New Zealand, Andrew has also alienated the locals by complaining about a variety of issues from the rule-bending of the All Black captain Richie McCaw to the activities of the Kiwi media. Having brought out 32 players, several have not been asked to play or even sit on the bench. What was meant to be a holding operation is now an exercise in clinging on for dear life.
On the rugby front it could yet get worse. New Zealand are making clear they intend to play much better this Saturday than they did at Eden Park, where their line-out did not function to anything like the degree the All Black coaches would have hoped. England, meanwhile, are in limbo. With Johnson preoccupied elsewhere and Andrew pursuing a policy of damage limitation, the sooner the final whistle sounds the better.
