Former England international Mike Tindall has admitted that he should not have got as drunk as he did during a team night out at last year's Rugby World Cup.

The 33-year-old was one of a number of squad members that were seen to be drinking large amounts of alcohol in a Queenstown bar.

Despite confessing that he should have known better, Tindall has insisted that not all that was reported about that evening was true.

"I've stayed away from talking about what happened because people have their fixed opinions and you can't compete when people have already made up their minds," he told the Press Association. "Obviously it wasn't ideal for me to end up as hammered as I was. That's a given.

"It's just that the reaction to my mistake turned into a rollercoaster that I couldn't control. But the people close to me, those I love, know what actually happened, and it just wasn't some enormous crisis."

Tindall has not featured for his country since the World Cup in New Zealand.