Former England halfback Ben Youngs has released his new book on the highs and lows of his record-breaking professional rugby career. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
Coach Martin Johnson<\/a> had given the team some time off to \u201cunwind\u201d after their tournament-opening win over Argentina.<\/p>\n After a boozy dinner paid for by the Rugby Football Union (RFU), some players headed to popular Queenstown nightspot the Altitude Bar which was hosting an event dubbed the \u2018Mad Midget Weekender\u2019.<\/p>\n Youngs didn\u2019t go and discovered the extent of the antics when he talked to room-mate Tom Croft the next morning.<\/p>\n \u201cHe told me they\u2019d ended up in this bar where there was a dwarf-chucking competition event on,\u201d Youngs wrote in Beyond the Line.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018Why didn\u2019t you give me a ring then?\u2019 I said. \u2018That sounds like fun\u2019. We had a laugh about it.\u201d<\/p>\n The positivity within the camp diminished later that day as team management sought out details of what had happened.<\/p>\n Youngs wrote: \u201cWe had been given permission to go out and no one had been harmed.<\/p>\n \u201cIt involved consenting adults \u2013 big ones and little ones.\u201d<\/p>\n But it soon turned into an early-Rugby World Cup scandal as photos of the England players with \u2018Mad Midget Weekender\u2019 entertainers had been posted online.<\/p>\n Video footage of the night also started circulating.<\/p>\n England player injured \u201cpicking a dwarf up\u201d<\/p>\n Johnson tried to play down the event, telling the chasing New Zealand and British media: \u201cRugby player drinks beer… shocker\u201d.<\/p>\n Youngs wrote in Beyond the Line that Johnson told his players to concentrate on rugby, hoping the drama would fade.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause Mike Tindall was involved \u2013 who had just become a member of the royal family, having married Zara Phillips \u2013 there was more petrol poured on the fire,\u201d Youngs wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cThe media were all over it.<\/p>\n \u201cFortunately, none of the journalists ever found out that Crofty [Tom Croft] had done his back picking a dwarf up and was on the physio\u2019s coach for three days, or we\u2019d have been given more grief.\u201d<\/p>\n Youngs said during the tour there was a \u201clot of stuff going on off the pitch\u201d that saw the side being depicted as \u201cthe tournament\u2019s bad guys\u201d.<\/p>\n Three players were later investigated by RFU officials after a lewd comment was made in front of a cleaner in the side\u2019s Dunedin hotel.<\/p>\n James Haskell and Chris Ashton were handed suspended fines and warned about future conduct after being found guilty by the RFU for \u201cmisconduct for allowing a woman to enter the hotel room\u201d.<\/p>\n The head of a butchered wild pig was also put outside Ashton\u2019s hotel room by a teammate as a \u201cnice surprise for him\u201d, Youngs wrote.<\/p>\n How trip to Waiheke for a \u201crefined lunch\u201d ended in downtown Auckland arrest<\/p>\n Everyone associated with the England squad probably hoped things couldn\u2019t get any worse after the side was knocked out of the tournament by France.<\/p>\n But the following day they did in spectacular style, with midfielder Manu Tuilagi being arrested by police<\/a> after jumping off the Waiheke Island ferry as it prepared to dock at its terminal in downtown Auckland.<\/p>\n Youngs recounts the moments leading up to the latest scandal that engulfed his team in Beyond the Line.<\/p>\n Several players had decided to go \u201csomewhere quiet and out of the way to drown our sorrows\u201d. The trip was meant to provide a \u201crefined lunch\u201d.<\/p>\n He said the group\u2019s intentions \u201cwere good\u201d, but in hindsight: \u201cAs inspired decisions go, that one turned out to be right up there with a couple of late ones at Altitude Bar\u201d.<\/p>\n The group spent several hours drinking on the island, before hopping on a ferry \u201crammed\u201d with Argentina fans heading to that night\u2019s All Blacks\/Pumas quarterfinal.<\/p>\n As the ferry neared the terminal, Tuilagi stripped off to his underwear while on the top floor of the vessel.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Argentinians were going bananas. The boat was shaking,\u201d Youngs wrote in Beyond the Line.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were standing there, holding his clothes, merrily pissed, not really thinking this through. Suddenly there was this massive splash and a huge cheer, and Manu was in the water.\u201d<\/p>\n Youngs said there was an \u201calarming moment\u201d when he feared Tuilagi might go under the ferry<\/a> as it started reversing.<\/p>\n When he finally did manage to swim to the wharf, police officers were waiting for him.<\/p>\n Tuilagi was arrested while still wearing just his undies. He was released after police issued him with a warning for disorderly behaviour.<\/p>\n Youngs recalled the moment he told the side\u2019s embattled media officer about the arrest when he returned to the England hotel.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was looking absolutely exhausted, like one of Shackleton\u2019s men on Elephant Island. I reckon he\u2019s lost 15 kilos \u2013 and half his hair. He was a frazzled wreck of a man, just skin and bones.<\/p>\n \u201cAll he wanted, I\u2019m sure, was to get home with no further dramas.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018Hi Will,\u2019 I said. \u2018Have you got a sec? Manu\u2019s just been arrested\u2019. He didn\u2019t speak for a while.<\/p>\n \u201cThen he said: \u2018You\u2019re kidding me, right?\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Warning was not heeded; pain lingers for legend<\/p>\n Youngs wrote in Beyond the Line how Chignell had stressed to the side before they departed to New Zealand \u201cthat we would be under the microscope\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a rugby mad country anyway, but at a World Cup there would be no hiding place. Everyone had a mobile phone, so we needed to be on our guard \u2013 and on our best behaviour.\u201d<\/p>\n England\u2019s quarter final exit \u2013 and the issues that plagued them off the field \u2013 led to the team being hammered by the UK press.<\/p>\n It also was the end of the line for several members of the coaching and managing team; most notably Johnson.<\/p>\n The England rugby legend announced his retirement at a press conference, the day before a panel was to review him and his coaching team.<\/p>\n English rugby bosses also fined Tindall $58,000 and cut him from England\u2019s elite squad.<\/p>\n Tuilagi was fined $6000 for his antics.<\/p>\n Fourteen years on, Youngs confided in his new book \u2013 published by Pan Macmillan \u2013 that the pain from the side\u2019s tournament from hell still hadn\u2019t gone.<\/p>\n \u201cDwarf-tossing, ferry-jumping, ball-tampering \u2013 England\u2019s 2011 World Cup campaign had it all,\u201d Youngs wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd, boy, did it leave me with regrets.\u201d<\/p>\nBen Youngs in action during the Pool B clash against Scotland and England in the Rugby World Cup 2011 at Eden Park. Photo \/ Greg Bowker<\/p>\n
England’s Mike Tindall signs an autograph during the 2011 Rugby World Cup amid the controversy of the wild night out in Queenstown. Photo \/ Greg Bowker<\/p>\n
Dan Cole (left) and Steve Thompson (second from right) at the infamous Mad Midget Weekender. Photo \/ AP<\/p>\n
Ben Youngs – pictured here playing the All Blacks – says his memories of the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand aren’t overly memorable. Photo \/ Greg Bowker<\/p>\n
A trip to Waiheke Island for a “refined lunch” ended up with England ruby star Manu Tuilagi’s arrest. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n
Manu Tuilagi outside the England hotel the day after his ferry plunge and before the team flew home. Photo \/ Natalie Slade<\/p>\n
Ben Youngs at the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France, a tournament where he made his international swansong. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n