RUGBY:AS IRELAND continues a confidential review of preparation and participation in the Rugby World Cup that is due to be delivered in December, English rugby has moved from critical fall out to terminal meltdown.

Part of the collateral damage coming from a leaked report printed yesterday has been the Ireland squad, who were described as being “much worse” than Mike Tindall and other English players on a World Cup drinking session in Queenstown’s Altitude Bar.

Yesterday the IRFU moved to deny any lack of discipline within the squad. While photographs appeared in some Irish newspapers of players socialising in a bar during the World Cup, no complaints emerged and no players were disciplined by Irish management.

“The Irish team were given a night out to socialise in Queenstown. They behaved responsibly as adults and without any incident taking place,” said an IRFU spokesman.

Details of English players’ opinions emerged following the team’s post World Cup review. In what is perhaps the most damaging information ever leaked following such a campaign, the views paint a picture of division, animosity, incompetence, of a self-serving, out-of-touch coaching staff and a manager, Martin Johnson, who under pressure on and off the pitch, defaulted to threadbare “old school” philosophy.

As England’s stint in New Zealand lurched from unimpressive form to drinking sessions that appeared to be condoned by the senior players, the resignation of Johnson last week appeared to have been the final act.

That was until the leaked reports emerged from the Rugby Football Union’s (RFU) director of elite rugby Rob Andrew and the players’ union, which were submitted to the Professional Game Board (PGB) for their review of a shabby campaign that ended in the quarter-finals against France.

The reports were not meant to be seen by the public, but were obtained by the London Times newspaper.

In it Johnson is drawn as a loyal rugby man but too naïve or incompetent to grasp the needs of the modern game.

Apart from former England prop Graham Rowntree, his coaching team, says the report, were more interested in playing Johnson along or as in kicking coach Dave Alred’s case, playing golf.

It reveals that players like Ben Youngs, who was scrambling for form following injury, stepped in to fill a coaching vacuum and independently began to call the running lines off the scrumhalf position, while captain Lewis Moody not only did not deserve his place or give team talks but was deeply undermined by senior players’ receptive attitude to drinking.

The unnamed players condemn the rugby reputation of England backs coach and former Ireland international Brian Smith, as well as former Ireland defensive coach Mike Ford.

Smith is described as not “understanding the game” and accused of serving up offensive tactics that were “lacklustre,” “boring,” and “schoolboy”.

Ford, widely respected during his stint with Ireland, was accused of talking in “a white wall of jargon” and his lineout calls were “two or three years behind”.

One player described the former rugby league star as being full “of pointless stats”.

Even England’s pre-tournament preparation was a source of annoyance and frustration as players complained it was overly long and left them feeling “mentally drained at the end”.

The tale of woe continued with players admitting to ignoring the list of plays because they were too complex.

“The man-management was absolutely terrible,” said one player. “All the plans we’d worked on for weeks suddenly went out the window because they didn’t happen to work in one game.

“There were two massive playbooks, which many players didn’t look at because it was in too much depth.”

Iconic outhalf Jonny Wilkinson was damned as being no longer an attacking threat as the players poured scorn on almost the entire process from preparation to final match.

The IRFU yesterday released a statement regarding their post World Cup review process, which takes place after every tournament.

“The Irish Rugby Football Union is currently undertaking a comprehensive review of the preparation and participation of the Ireland Team in the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.

“It is standard IRFU policy that tournaments and tours undertaken by all representative teams are fully reviewed to evaluate performance,” the statement read.

“The review of the 2011 Rugby World Cup is an internal performance review and therefore is not published and it is expected to completed over the next couple of weeks.

“The review will involve feedback from support staff, players and management and the final report itself will be digested by the performance committee and national team management.”