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England centre jumps off ferry
England World Cup centre Manu Tuilagi was detained by New Zealand police after jumping off a ferry as it was about to berth on the Auckland waterfront.
The 20-year-old Samoan-born player, who has been fined 3,000 pounds by the Rugby Football Union, jumped off the ferry, which was carrying other team-mates, as it arrived from Waiheke Island and was preparing to dock on Sunday evening.
A police spokeswoman said he was formally warned about the offence of disorderly behaviour, and then released to the England team management.
"I'm really sorry. It was a silly thing to do and I apologise to everybody for any inconvenience caused," Tuilagi said.
Warren Fowler, the general manager of the ferry company, said the antic was dangerous and that there could have been serious consequences.
"It could have been tragic with vessels coming in here and someone jumping off the back of a vessel when it is going to be reversing shortly," Fowler told The New Zealand Herald.
England was knocked out of the World Cup by France in the quarter-finals on Saturday, losing 19-12.
Tuilagi had already been in hot water at the tournament when he was fined $7,500 for wearing an illegal mouthguard bearing a sponsor's name.
England's campaign in New Zealand was dogged by off-field problems.
Three players were forced to apologise to a female hotel employee for harassment while Mike Tindall - married to the granddaughter of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II - admitted he had misled officials about his night with a mystery woman, later said to be an "old friend" by those close to the England centre.
Tindall initially said he was only in one bar with the woman until photo evidence emerged showing them in a second bar where they "behaved like a smooching teenage couple," according to media reports.
AFP
Tags: rugby-union-world-cup, rugby-union, sport, england, united-kingdom, new-zealand First posted October 10, 2011 11:43:41Wednesday, May 25, 2011
SBW won't be Reds' centre of attention
Williams has been a revelation in his debut Super Rugby season, the former rugby league international proving to be a massive attacking threat at inside centre for the Crusaders, who sit in fourth place on the overall standings.
It has been Williams' ability to pass in the tackle that has troubled opposition defensive systems the most, the 26-year-old topping the competition for off-loads with 43, well clear of the second-placed Quade Cooper's 24.
He and Cooper share top billing on the list of linebreak assists with nine each, a statistic reflective of their ability to commit more than one tackler when they have ball in hand and therefore creating holes in the defensive line for their support players.
Williams missed the Crusaders' 25-19 win over the Chiefs in Napier last Saturday night because of a bruised knee, but is expected to take his place in the midfield against the ladder-leading Reds in the round 15 encounter.
McKenzie feels the Reds cannot afford to concentrate too heavily on shutting down Williams, as there is so much class in the Crusaders line-up that also includes the likes of All Blacks captain Richie McCaw and Dan Carter.
"They've got good players, so we won't spending all our time on one player," he said.
"We will be spending our time coming up with the right strategy for us and making sure we understand how we will think they will play.
"They've got many different ways to play. We saw a kicking-orientated, field position game last week. We've seen them run the ball side to side, so we've got to make sure we address that all in our training."
While an admirer of Williams' skill set, McKenzie notes that the four-Test All Black can be contained, as the Cheetahs proved in their 33-20 upset win over the Crusaders in Bloemfontein in round 13.
"He's got a good off-loading game, but those off-loads don't always come off," he said.
"There's also a bunch of turnovers that come with them, so you've got to get in there and teams have proved in recent weeks, the Cheetahs did a very good job.
"You go through the stats and you work out some games he was very effective and some games he wasn't in terms of off-loading."
Scrum battle
An area of the Crusaders' game where McKenzie has placed significant attention is their scrum.
The seven-time Super Rugby champions possess arguably the strongest scrum in the competition, as illustrated in the triumph over the Chiefs where they stole a tighthead.
The Reds have struggled at scrum time during the season and McKenzie knows his pack will be given a thorough examination on Sunday afternoon.
"They've (Crusaders) got one of the best performing scrums in the competition, that's a challenge in itself," he said.
"We did a bit of scrummaging last week, we will continue that this week. That will be a good test for our young guys, that's definitely a feature of their game."
The Crusaders pack has been a dominant force at the breakdown too and they may consider playing McCaw at blindside flanker so as to accommodate the impressive Matt Todd at openside.
Todd made his debut for the Crusaders against the Blues in round one in place of the then-injured McCaw and has used his 'on the ball' skills to great effect in his 11 appearances so far this season.
Reds openside flanker Beau Robinson, whose form this year may earn him a World Cup berth for the Wallabies, concedes two scavengers could be overkill for the Crusaders, as they already have more than one "pest at the breakdown" without the inclusion of both McCaw and Todd.
"They're whole team, one to 15, across the park is quite on the ball," he said.
"So, that's something we have taken notice of and we'll apply ourselves accordingly."
Meanwhile, healthy ticket sales for Sunday's match could see the Australian Super Rugby attendance record of 42,237 broken, that mark set when the Reds met New South Wales at Lang Park in 2004.
Tags: sport, rugby-union, super-14, brisbane-4000 First posted May 24, 2011 16:24:00