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Dunedin - England manager Martin Johnson insisted Friday he would not be confining players to their hotel rooms after veteran centre Mike Tindall found himself making unwanted headlines following a squad evening out in Queenstown.
Britain's Sun tabloid reported Tindall, who recently married Zara Phillips, the granddaughter of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, had kissed an unidentified blonde woman while watching a dwarf-throwing contest in a Queenstown bar on Sunday as the team celebrated victory over Argentina in their opening World Cup match.
The story took a new twist on Friday when alleged CCTV footage from the bar showing the woman kissing Tindall was posted on the YouTube website.
Johnson spent the bulk of his Friday press conference, where he named the team to play Georgia on Sunday, defending his squad's conduct after a "real high pressure game against Argentina".
"The players said 'we are going to go out for a beer on Sunday night', I said it was a great idea," Johnson told reporters.
"You've got to relieve the pressure, let off steam at the right time," added Johnson, who before England left for the World Cup insisted he would not be imposing any drinking bans or curfews -- a policy he upheld on Friday.
"We all know when you've got a rugby team, part of it is the bonding off the field as well."
Asked about the possibility every member of the public could potentially film an England player, Johnson said: "That's the world we live in... I don't want to get to the stage where we are locking ourselves away in hotels.
"They (the players) understand, no-one likes to be on the front page of papers. They know their responsibilities."
Johnson, Tindall's captain in the England side that won the 2003 World Cup, said the 32-year-old Gloucester midfielder had not let him down.
"I don't have to speak about Mike, about where he is," added Johnson, who said his decision to leave Tindall out of the team to play Georgia was in no way related to Sunday's events.
"The manager of the bar has said the England players, their behaviour was perfectly acceptable all through the evening," Johnson stressed.
His words were backed up by bar operator Rich Deane, who on the Altitude Bar's Facebook page, wrote: "There was no scandal by any of the English rugby players that we saw."
Johnson said the reaction to Sunday's events might help strengthen team spirit. "I think it brings teams together, this sort of thing. They (players) rally round team-mates."
Four England players, none of whom are in the World Cup squad, found themselves caught up in a sex scandal during an ill-fated tour of New Zealand in 2008.
Johnson said despite that some current squad members had not bargained for the level of scrutiny they'd face in New Zealand.
"I think maybe you underestimate what it is like in this country, potentially," he said.
"Other teams have done the same thing in the same town and gone out for a few drinks. If we get away from having that in the Rugby World Cup then I don't think that's for the best.
"If we get to the point where you can't go out because someone is going to film you and point the finger at you, it's a pretty sad place.
"They've gone out for a drink. That's what they've done: rugby player drinks beer, shocker," Johnson said.
