England's ill-fated tour of New Zealand may be over but there is no sense of closure. While Auckland police did not prevent any of the touring team from leaving the country yesterday, the players embroiled in last week's sex allegations remain in limbo and the Rugby Football Union is in a similarly frustrating position. Until the case is dropped or a formal complaint is lodged, reputations and futures will hang in the balance.
The tour manager Rob Andrew has said that players named in Martin Johnson's first elite squad next week may be subject to a disciplinary inquiry but has no idea how long it will be before Twickenham officials launch their own investigation into the events that overshadowed England's 2-0 series defeat. "At the moment we're being told that any disciplinary action we may wish to take will have to wait until the police inquiry is finished," Andrew said, keenly aware that the matter is still unresolved. "We've effectively been living on an hour-by-hour basis for the past week and we've probably got no choice but to continue doing that."
Today the News of the World carried an interview with Sophie Lewis — aka Angel Barbie — who claimed to have spent the night in the squad's Auckland hotel with an England player. Five or six other women are also believed to have accompanied players, allegedly in a team minibus, back to their rooms after meeting them in a city centre club.
A Sunday paper in New Zealand reported, meanwhile, that the woman understood to have made an allegation of rape against two players sought medical treatment after leaving the hotel last Sunday. But police have yet to receive a formal complaint.
The RFU chief executive Francis Baron said last week: "There are some lurid allegations floating around [but] the boys have totally denied them. In our view those boys are innocent. Until proven otherwise they're innocent and will continue to have our full support."
In the circumstances it was surprising that Andrew chose to allow several England players to go out drinking into the early hours after Saturday's 44-12 second Test defeat. Andrew defended the decision, pointing out the players had been accompanied by security staff and had acted responsibly at all times. "We did talk about whether it was appropriate in the circumstances but it is the end of a very long 12-month season for these guys," Andrew said. "They've been through thick and thin out here and it's been a tough experience on and off the field. We're not going to lock them in their rooms after a Test match. Players have got to take responsibility for their own actions. They went out for a drink, came back and had medical reviews at 8am."
There will be others who consider this to be a further example of the same weak management that contributed to the squad's late-night antics in Auckland. Andrew, however, was prickly about the embarrassment being heaped on English rugby's image. "I'm not going to consider my position," he insisted yesterday. "I'm going to carry on doing the work I'm doing at the RFU."
He also dismissed suggestions that the players did not care enough about playing for England. "You can look at some of the technical issues and address the differences between the two sides but as a coaching team we cannot question their physical commitment. The young guys put their bodies on the line from the first minute to the last. I don't accept they're not hugely disappointed by the end result."
He went on to claim, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that it had not been "a tour from hell by any stretch of the imagination". Given England lost both Tests by convincing margins and won few new friends outside the confines of the Pony Club, that has to be a matter of opinion. Johnson, the man charged with sweeping up the mess, has a number of playing and personnel concerns to address, with Andrew acknowledging the need for improved backline physicality and skill allied to more consistent selection. The need for a talented, experienced attack coach becomes ever more acute, while the defence specialist Mike Ford has pledged to devise a new, more aggressive strategy during the off-season.
There were successes — particularly the back-row trio of Tom Rees, James Haskell and Luke Narraway — with Andrew insisting that a "strong" 32-man squad would be named on July 1, augmented by 10 to 12 players who were unable to tour. The forwards never gave up in New Zealand but could not mask the gulf in backline craft. "It would have needed us to grab their pack by the balls and make sure they got nothing," admitted the tourists' forwards coach John Wells.
The All Blacks scored nine tries in two Tests but will now be without their captain Richie McCaw for six weeks because of the ankle injury he sustained in the first-half on Saturday. It will take longer still to rehabilitate England's maligned reputation.
