Tuqiri takes responsibility

Boozing Wallaby winger Lote Tuqiri has taken full responsibility for the incident which led to him being banned for two games and fined A$20,000 on Monday.

Tuqiri turned up late for a medical and recovery session reeking of booze. Team officials forced him to take a breathalyzer which revealed that he was over the acceptable alcohol limit.

He explained that he had missed the team session due to his ‘time management issues’ and misreading his diary.

“It comes back to me, I take full responsibility,” said Tuqiri.

“I shouldn’t hold someone else’s hand to do things for me. I’ve been playing professional sport for eight or nine years now. I’m obviously not happy about not playing and letting the boys down and letting the family (down) and fans and everyone else.

“There are other issues too – I’ve got time management issues as well.”

Tuqiri went out boozing on Sunday to celebrate the Wallaby win over New Zealand the previous day.

“I was having a few quiet drinks with the boys, that was about it. I got back to the hotel and just didn’t read the diary properly. It was just a bad read by me. The fact was that I missed that session, I just didn’t know it was on.

“I’m sure it’s happened before and it will happen again in the future – but it’s certainly not going to happen to me.

“Missing out on being selected is massive. I just want to be out there and playing footy and missing one Test is too much.”

ARU Chief Executive John O’Neill, speaking to Fox Sports, insisted that he had made the correct decision in lengthening Tuqiri’s ban from the initial one game to two games.

“Could we have said beating the Springboks this weekend and the All Blacks to win the Bledisloe Cup is more important than upholding team standards? No, we can’t, because it’s not. It doesn’t matter what the game is, or who the player involved is, no one is above the law when it comes to off-field responsibility.

“This is about sending a very clear and unambiguous message as to what we expect in terms of the behaviour and culture of the Wallabies. It could be viewed the same as an unforeseen injury.

“You just have to cope. Equally, this should have been avoided.”