Embarrassing England Rugby Video

England have been embarrassed after a video celebrating a Grand Slam victory which never happened was leaked on the internet.

Martin Johnson's men were favourites to land a first RBS 6 Nations Grand Slam since 2003 but were hammered 24-8 by Ireland at Aviva Stadium on Saturday.

The video, which showed members of the England team celebrating Grand Slam success, was made by England sponsor Nike. It features several players including Toby Flood, Chris Ashton, Ben Foden and Mark Cueto:



It was due to be part of a major advertising campaign which also included 5,000 limited edition Grand Slam t-shirts, and a planned billboard campaign on the London underground which also had to be scrapped.

The England t-shirts read 'Onwards' under a logo featuring a '6' and a red rose and were due to have been worn on the field after the match and sold in London.

According to British newspaper The Telegraph, the internal Nike e-mail said: 'We have commissioned a special limited edition T-shirt to celebrate the England Grand Slam 2011, which we will give to the players when we win against Ireland on Saturday.'

'The T-shirt is inspired by the iconic English rose (like the kit) and 5K units will go into retail at the RFU & NikeTown London after the game.

'In the spirit on owning sporting moments, we will also execute a burst of Digital Out-of-Home activity that will start right on the final whistle in over 20 of London's most prominent underground stations through Digital Escalator Panels and Cross-Track Projections.'

Commenting on the e-mail and video, a Nike spokesman said: 'We commissioned a celebration T-shirt and a video featuring the players, as we obviously need to plan ahead.

'It's unfortunate that this email has been leaked, and perhaps the lesson is to be less optimistic in our internal communications.'

Original article here courtesy of RTE