3 Mathieu Bastareaud’s “Assault” That Never Happened
Mathieu Bastareaud’s 2009 controversy in Wellington wasn’t technically an arrest, but it earns a spot for being one of rugby’s most bizarre self-inflicted scandals.
After France’s Test loss to the All Blacks, Bastareaud returned to the team hotel sporting a badly cut face. He initially claimed he’d been ambushed by a group of locals on the street—prompting outrage in both France and New Zealand.
But the truth, when it emerged, was far less dramatic: he’d simply fallen over in his hotel room while drinking and made the story up to cover his tracks. The fallout caused a diplomatic stir, a media circus and a lesson in why inventing attackers is rarely the best solution to a clumsy night out.
4 Manu Tuilagi’s Post-World-Cup Ferry Leap
After England’s disappointing exit from the 2011 Rugby World Cup, centre Manu Tuilagi tried to blow off some steam. Unfortunately, he chose to do so by jumping off a ferry in Auckland.
The then-20-year-old leapt from the vessel and swam to a nearby pier, where police briefly detained him before issuing a formal warning. England’s management wasn’t amused either, fining him £3,000.
Tuilagi later apologised, calling it a “silly thing to do,” which may be underselling the fact that he had just jumped into open water off a moving boat. Whether alcohol played a role remains officially unconfirmed—but the mood of England’s World Cup campaign suggests it’s at least plausible.
5 Danny Care and the Leeds Hotel Steps
Danny Care had a turbulent end to 2011 and start to 2012, culminating in yet another scrape with the law—this time for urinating on the steps of the Queens Hotel in Leeds.
British Transport Police found the Harlequins scrum-half relieving himself outside the hotel just after 3am. He was arrested, taken to the station, questioned and ultimately cautioned for being drunk and disorderly.
It wasn’t an isolated incident. Only weeks earlier, Care had been fined over £3,000 and banned from driving for 16 months after pleading guilty to drink-driving on New Year’s Day. England promptly dropped him from their Six Nations squad, marking a spectacularly unglamorous off-field hat-trick for the young No. 9.
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