England sneak out of the back door

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Julian Bennetts10 April 2012

England's World Cup flops ducked out of facing the public today as they sneaked out of Heathrow by a back door.

The majority of Martin Johnson's squad arrived back in London shortly before 11am but they refused to face the waiting media or fans as they used the VIP exit to escape without being seen.

And while the team manager might want his problems to magically disappear, the only celebrity the public could spot at Terminal 1 was Paul Daniels.

It was the final snub by a squad, who under-performed on the pitch while some behaved poorly off it. England were beaten 19-12 by France in Saturday's quarter-final in Auckland but their tournament will be remembered for a string of off‑the-field controversies.

The first came when some of the squad went to the Mad Midget Weekender at the Altitude Bar in Queenstown, where a drunk Mike Tindall was seen on CCTV with a blonde. The centre, who married Zara Phillips just weeks earlier, then lied about going to a second bar with the woman.

James Haskell, Chris Ashton and Dylan Hartley were then disciplined after an incident with a hotel worker in Dunedin while coaches Dave Alred and Paul Stridgeon were banned for one game after changing the balls for Jonny Wilkinson's conversion attempts against Romania.

The final ignominy came when Manu Tuilagi, who had already been fined £5000 for wearing a branded mouthguard, was cautioned by police for jumping off a ferry and swimming to shore on Sunday.

Johnson and the rest of his players, unlike yesterday's initial party which included Tom Palmer and Ben Youngs who stopped and spoke to the media, sped away with questions remaining over their futures.

An RFU Spokesman said: "Arrangements for England's departure to and re-entry into London Heathrow were discussed prior to and during the tournament, including the option to use a private route."

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