Auckland rugby players went on a boozy session into the early hours of Monday after their humiliating defeat last weekend.
The Herald on Sunday understands the players were drinking until as late as 6am after their embarrassing 57-10 thrashing by North Harbour last Sunday - and posted details of their exploits to social media.
It is a fresh blow to the sport, coming in the week during which New Zealand Rugby released its long-awaited Respect and Responsibility Review in an attempt to clean up a prevalent culture of poor behaviour.
Auckland Rugby confirmed a group of players went to a player's house.
The players were spoken to by management but it's understood there were no official sanctions as the club bosses believed the behaviour stopped short of misconduct.
Chief executive Jarrod Bear said the players were "again reminded of their responsibilities to make good decisions for themselves, their teammates, their families, their sponsors and the proud Auckland rugby community they represent". "To the best of the team management's knowledge, nothing untoward occurred," Bear added.
The Herald on Sunday understands about eight of Auckland's top players were drinking until early on Monday.
Coming after the Battle of the Bridge defeat - one of the worst results in Auckland Rugby history - the players' antics will do little to endear them to the union's long-suffering supporters.
But it will also frustrate the game's administrators who have spent much of this week attempting to show it is changing rugby culture - in particular surrounding alcohol and attitudes towards women.
Alcohol Healthwatch executive director Dr Nicki Jackson said the latest incident came as no surprise given rugby's reliance on alcohol sponsorship.
"New Zealand Rugby attempts to address this only by education. I can tell you right now that any events that are happening in New Zealand rugby teams are not happening because of poor education," she said.
"A key driver is that so many teams are sponsored by alcohol companies and it perpetuates this relationship between alcohol and sport, and rugby in particular."
She said 76 per cent of sponsorship by alcohol companies went to rugby teams.
The $150,000 Respect and Responsibility Review found that of the 36 cases of misconduct between 2013-17, alcohol played a part in more than half.
Bear said that Auckland Rugby was aligned with the recommendations in the review and "very conscious that player education regarding alcohol needs to be continuous".
Auckland yesterday suffered their fourth loss in five games when going down 49-38 to Taranaki at Eden Park after leading 25-19 at halftime.
Earlier coach Nick White spoke of the backlash following the Harbour defeat and said he was urging his players to stay away from social media.