Rugby World Cup 2011: RFU defends England squad's 'evening out'

England rugby bosses have backed captain Mike Tindall and his team-mates following tabloid allegations about a night out in New Zealand. Some players drank in bars on Sunday after their 13-9 win over Argentina. The Sun newspaper featured photos of the night out and made allegations about Tindall's conduct. The Rugby Football Union said: "Like all the lads, Mike plays for England with a massive amount of passion and was relaxing after a tough match." Players including Chris Ashton, Toby Flood and Dylan Hartley were pictured on the evening out in Queenstown following the victory over Argentina, which the RFU described as "hard-earned". With an eight-day turnaround before their next game against Georgia on Sunday, the players had a day off on Monday, when several of them went bungee-jumping and white-water rafting. Team manager Martin Johnson defended the decision to allow them to take part in the adventure sports. Tindall, who is captaining England until the return of injury-hit flanker Lewis Moody, is married to the Queen's granddaughter Zara Phillips, a former equestrian eventing world champion. Before the team left for New Zealand, Johnson insisted he would not be imposing drinking bans on the squad. "When I started playing rugby at senior level you were dealing with blokes," Johnson said on the day of the team's departure. "They treated us like adults and there is no reason to change that now they are professionals and things are far more organised in the game. "They are there to make sensible decisions. If I can't trust them, there is a simple choice for us to make." Rich Deane, the manager of Altitude Bar which the players are alleged to have visited, posted a message on Facebook defending their conduct. He wrote: "Firstly: There was no dwarf throwing - that's just not cool! Secondly: There was no scandal by any of the English rugby players that we saw! "They were great lads, not throwing the midgets, it was all light-hearted good-humoured fun!"