It has emerged that two high profile members of the All Black squad abused sleeping pills on a night out during the 2011 World Cup.

New Zealand rugby bosses admitted that outside backs Israel Dagg and Cory Jane took the sleeping pills on a night out in Auckland ahead of their side’s quarter-final game with Argentina. NZRU chief Steve Tew denied claims that the story had been squashed, but insisted that the pair had been dealt with internally.

He also denied claims that the mixing of sleeping pills with alcohol with the goal of achieving an amphetamine-like high was rife in Super Rugby.

Dagg and Jane were reported to have been seen at a city bar off-balance, disorientated and slurring their words.

“The incident that occurred that night was at a level that was dealt with internally by the team, we weren’t covering anything up,” Tew told reporters.

“Our guys live in a very tight environment for a long period of time.

“While we don’t know about everything that happens in a team environment, it is hard to keep too many secrets.

“It would be a big call to take sleeping pills out of our tool kit for teams travelling through multiple time zones constantly many times a year when you are expected to perform the next day in a very physically demanding game.”

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