Drunken night with blonde wasn't a huge crisis for those I love, says Mike Tindall

London, Apr 15 (ANI): Mike Tindall has said that his drunken romp with the blonde during Rugby World Cup "just wasn't some enormous crisis" to those he loves.

The 33-year-old rugby star has spoken for the first time about his drunken antics with a bar room blonde, unapologetically playing down its impact on his new wife Zara Phillips.

But the former England rugby captain - who married the Queen's granddaughter just weeks before the escapade did concede, with characteristic understatement, that it "wasn't ideal" he had ended up "hammered".

Tindall was filmed during the World Cup in New Zealand drunkenly larking around with the blonde, a former girlfriend, and the scandal threatened to discredit the sport and the Royal Family.

But he said on Sunday that he would not be "the last person to get p****d" and said the reaction to his misdemeanours turned into "a roller-coaster I couldn't control."

Tindall was axed from England's Elite Player Squad as a result of his drunken exploits.

"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," the Daily Mail quoted him as saying.

"Obviously it wasn't ideal for me to end up as hammered as I was. That's a given. People have done that in their lives before and I'm sure I won't be the last person to get p****d and then realise it wasn't a great idea to drink so much.

"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," he added.

He also defended the team's lacklustre performance, and added: "Given the same situation, you wouldn't repeat it. But neither did England get knocked out of the World Cup because we went for a night out."

The tournament was widely perceived as an embarrassing failure for the England team, categorised by turgid performances and bad behaviour.

The side were knocked out in the quarter-finals against France. But it was that one drunken night out in Queenstown that caused the most controversy.

Members of the squad, including Tindall, were photographed drinking heavily in several bars, one of which was hosting a dwarf-throwing competition.

CCTV footage from the Altitude Bar revealed Tindall canoodling with blonde Jessica Palmer and struggling to walk. (ANI)