Wellington – An England rugby league player has been caught on video smashing through a door at a student party following Saturday’s loss to New Zealand in a crucial Four Nations tournament match.
Hooker Josh Hodgson, who did not play in the match, is seen crashing through a closed interior door of the flat in the southern city of Dunedin just after wing Josh Charnley had walked through and closed it.
Students can be heard chanting “Go through the door!” as the Hull Kingston Rovers player runs at it.
In the video supplied to Television New Zealand, Hodgson emerges on the other side with a beaming smile and waving his arms as someone can be heard saying “He jumped through the door!”
England team manager Jon Roberts told the television channel the incident was “being dealt with internally and the person involved will be disciplined”.
He apologised “on behalf of Rugby League England” and said arrangements had been made “for full repair of the small damage that occurred last night”.
The students involved said they invited members of the England team back to their flat to continue partying when the bar they were at closed at 4am.
Before the Test, which New Zealand won 16-14 to qualify for the Four Nations final, the England players were reported to have been “shocked” by the drunken antics of Dunedin students, who are renowned for burning furniture in the street during parties.
Forward Daryl Clark told Britain’s Daily Star newspaper they had their “eyes opened” by the student drunkenness. – Sapa-AFP