Rugby World Cup: Grim, silent - cheerio England

Manu Tuilagi's harbour dip has not helped the England rugby team's image. Photo / Karen Houston

They came, they boozed, they collapsed. The England Rugby World Cup team left for home yesterday, grim-faced and silent and waved off by less than 20 people.

They included:

* Mike Tindall, the royal newlywed filmed cavorting with a blonde in Queenstown.

* Jonny Wilkinson, accused of swapping his favourite ball on the field, but still kicking poorly.

* Manu Tuilagi, whose dip in the harbour ended with police attention and a £3000 ($6030) fine by his coach.

And with their sweet chariot perhaps never swinging so low, all piled on to the team bus outside the Crowne Plaza with long faces and a long trip ahead.

But the team didn't let up on the entertainment to the very end, with reports that Tuilagi left the police station after his detention for the harbour dip to join teammates at the Red Hummingbird bar at SkyCity until about 2am.

The 20-year Samoan-born player was summoned hours later by England team manager Martin Johnson to an early-morning disciplinary hearing.

When approached for an interview before he left, he said: "Nah, I can't."

Not allowed? "Yeah," he said before turning to the woman next to him and said "none of us can".

Captain Tindall, infamous for his earlier antics with a blonde in a bar, posed for a photo with a fan before he dodged waiting media and boarded the bus via the backdoor.

Wilkinson also chose to take the back door, which didn't stop England fan Monique James from screaming "I love you, Jonny!"

The team's ashen faces might well be in anticipation of the reception waiting for them in England over their performance both on and off the field.

Tuilagi was fined by Johnson and Rugby Football Union performance manager Rob Andrew for jumping into the Waitemata Harbour from the ferry as it was about to reverse into a berth about 6.50pm on Sunday.

The fine will go to the World Cup's Christchurch quake recovery appeal.

Tuilagi had spent the day on Waiheke Island with about eight team-mates, with whom he enjoyed a lengthy vineyard lunch, and stripped down to his shorts for his impromptu swim after travelling back to Auckland on the Fullers ferry Superflyte.

The incident followed a $10,000 fine from the International Rugby Board for wearing an unapproved mouthguard bearing the name of a sponsor, which an England official said was his responsibility to pay.

Tuilagi escaped a criminal charge of disorderly behaviour after being held at the Auckland Central police station for an hour and a half and then being let off with a warning.

"I'm really sorry. It was a silly thing to do and I apologise to everybody for any inconvenience caused," he said in a statement issued by the team.

But Britain's Sun newspaper reported that after being handed by the police back to the England management, he went to Red Hummingbird with his fellow teammates until the small hours of yesterday morning.

"He seemed fine, totally happy," a witness said. "He was posing for pictures with fans, chatting to girls and drinking with mates They seemed well behaved, at least until I left at 2am."