Rugby:Lewis Moody today admitted he made mistakes as England captain during the World Cup but insisted he never put commercial gain before his rugby. Moody has reportedly been criticised by England's elite rugby director Rob Andrew for leading a senior player delegation that disputed the squad's World Cup payments.

The 33-year-old Bath flanker is also criticised by one unnamed team-mate for having too much contact with his agent during the tournament and setting the wrong example. The criticisms of Moody were contained in two of the three reports into England’s disastrous World Cup campaign that have been leaked to The Times.

Moody said in a statement: “I put my body on the line for the lads, the team and England every time I played and anyone who has watched me play knows that I give everything on the field and have always prioritised rugby ahead of everything else, including financial reward.”

Rugby Players’ Association chief Damian Hopley has demanded an investigation to track down the source of the leaked confidential World Cup reports. In a hard-hitting statement, Hopley said: “I am absolutely devastated that our RPA members’ trust has been so publicly betrayed.

“Players voluntarily took part in these interviews and gave their honest and frank assessment of England’s Rugby World Cup Campaign. The aim was to be completely open and transparent, and players should be respected for refusing to shy away from some of the problems encountered.

“Players were critical of themselves, of the coaching team and of the RFU and its leadership. Their determination was for everyone to be accountable and take responsibility for the disappointing showing in the Rugby World Cup.”

The Times today published details of the confidential reports compiled by the RFU, the RPA, who surveyed players anonymously, and the English Premiership clubs. Andrew is reported to have written in the RFU report: “Some of the senior players were more focused on money rather than getting the rugby right.”

One player is reported to have reacted to England’s quarter-final defeat to France by saying: “There’s £35k just gone down the toilet”.

Hardly anyone escapes the review with their reputations intact. The coaching regime, other than scrum specialist Graham Rowntree, comes in for strong criticism. England were eventually beaten by France in the quarter-finals, equalling their worst performance in a World Cup after a campaign dogged by controversy.

Team manager Martin Johnson is reportedly criticised for failing to instill discipline following a series of off-field incidents, with one unnamed player quoted as saying “he was too loyal and that was his downfall”.

The reports were never intended to be published. The Professional Game Board, which runs elite rugby in England, are due to make recommendations based on the reports’ conclusions to the RFU management board on November 30th.

Selected extracts from the players' reviews

On the pre-tournament preparation

"It wasn't hard, it was just LONG. We felt physically and mentally drained at the end. The man-management was absolutely terrible.

"All the plans we'd worked on for weeks suddenly went out the window because they didn't happen to work in one game.

"There were two massive playbooks, which many players didn't look at because it was in too much depth. There wasn't enough focus on basic skills."

On the performances at the World Cup

"To go into World Cup games not having a game-plan, any structure or clear idea of what we were going to do in attack was astonishing. I really can't believe we lasted as long as we did in the tournament. We played like crap.

On the coaching

"It reached a stage where each time we won a game we joked that we had saved a couple of the coaches' jobs again. The standard of attack coaching and defence coaching was poor. Substandard to coaching at my club.

"The coaches seemed to have the same blueprint for every game. They didn't seem to grasp that every opposition would play differently. Some of the coaches have no feel for the game.

"The coaches' philosophy on how to play the game was very different. The coaches really hate each other. Coaches spoke in generics: `play at tempo.' But then no detail what to do next.

"We had no identity. We weren't the best at anything and we weren't encouraged to be. We basically did a bit of everything averagely, trying to cover everything in every training session.

"They'd had four years to develop a plan and it felt like they were doing it off the cuff. At our club there is a brutally honest policy. If you mess up, you are bollocked and understand you have let your team-mates down. In England there was a no-blame/excuse culture where you swept things under the carpet.

"If players don't perform, we get dropped; on the other hand, the coaches just seem to go through an internal review and keep their jobs.

"We can't just blame the coaches for the predicament we got in. Look at France, they couldn't stand their coach and they almost won the World Cup."

On Martin Johnson

"It wasn't Johno, it was that Johno was surrounded by the wrong people. He's incredibly loyal. The coaches aren't stupid. They all make sure they get on very well with Johno.

"We just wanted Johno to have the bollocks to take action, especially after the Tindall night. He was too loyal and that was his downfall."

On scrum coach Graham Rowntree

"He was fantastic. Everyone likes and respects him and he had empathy with the players. He was the best of all the coaches. He's ahead of his time."

On attack coach Brian Smith

"He simply doesn't understand the game well enough. I would be delighted if he went. Our attack play was boring, uninventive, lacklustre, even schoolboy at times.

"He didn't offer anything. The players had all the ideas for strategy and all he did was write the players' ideas on the board.

"At one stage it was (scrumhalf) Ben Youngs who was coaching. Ben would come up with a strategy for how to run off the 9 and off the base of the ruck. Should he have had that responsibility when he's playing in his first World Cup and trying to get his form back to where it was before his operation?"

"He (Smith) was way out of his depth. We went away from what we did well. He selected an unexciting backline which likes to run over people.

"If we'd got to the semi-finals or final it would have papered over the cracks and the worst thing is Brian Smith would have stayed in his job. It might be a blessing."

On forwards coach John Wells

"Good at the technical side but pretty archaic. He was out of his depth. There must be 20 coaches in the Premiership who would be better."

On selection

"For a 12-month period (summer 2010 until the end of the 2011 Six Nations) it was the best England had performed since the 2003 World Cup. That was in part due to continuity.

"In the three World Cup warm-up games, they played three different teams. We lost the continuity. We won the Six Nations and made huge strides against Australia, so why were so many changes made?

"(Chris) Robshaw and (Tom) Wood proved themselves to be the fittest, the strongest and played out of their skin in training, but then they were overlooked for senior players and we reverted to type.

"Jonny Wilkinson is not an attacking threat any more. We really needed (Toby) Flood because he is the one who bosses the team. Floody was part of the reason England played well in the Six Nations.

"Some guys were frustrated because guys were being picked on what they had done in the past, not how they were playing now. They went for the most experienced players who could win ugly. It seemed naive to stick to older heads."

"They selected (Lewis) Moody ahead of (Tom) Wood despite Moodos being half-fit and Woody playing awesomely in training and in the Six Nations."

On the captaincy

"We didn't really have a good captain. I think Johno liked (Lewis) Moody as he left the team talks to Johno. Rather than go for someone senior, they should go for a player who is guaranteed to start.

"If you lead by example and by putting your body on the line, surely that leadership is weakened if the team is questioning whether he is physically able to do what his mind wants him to do.

"There was a time when Lewis was going to address the squad and say it was unacceptable to behave the way they had done in Queenstown and get into the state Tindall did. But then X came in and said `I don't see what the problem is with having a few drinks, the press are just against us and making a mountain out of a molehill'. Of course, as soon as a senior player had said that, other players agree. Moodos had lost the moment to be able to dictate to the squad."

On discipline

"We set standards within the group but punctuality seemed to apply to the younger guys but not the senior players. For one team meeting X didn't just arrive late, he missed the entire meeting yet no one says a word.

"There was confusion from start to finish. Everything was grey. There was no black and white.

"The environment was a bit too jokey and disrespectful. It was an immature squad who took the piss out of some players for working hard, talking to the coaches or having interests away from rugby."

"There was a culture where it was not cool to train hard. What happened to the culture where everyone was training to be the best in the world?

"To hear one senior player in the changing room say straight after the quarter-final defeat `There's 35,00 pounds just gone down the toilet' made me feel sick. Money shouldn't even come into a player's mind."

"Too many players were chasing endorsements. You sense for some players it was more about getting cash and caps than about getting better.

"It was not a place where you felt you could be yourself or talk candidly. It was quite a dour, depressing set-up to be part of."

On drinking

"It was the senior guys pushing the boundaries, treating it like an old-school tour. It has to be treated more seriously.

"If it's the senior players leading drinking games or drinking until they can't remember anything, what example are the younger players set?

"I don't think we understood the impact of Tinds (Mike Tindall) being a member of the Royal Family in a Commonwealth country and the extra interest he would generate."

"Ireland had been in there (the Altitude Bar in Queenstown) and were much worse, but I think they might have taken the press with them.

"As a group, we behaved like everyone should pander to our every need. At times we were mindless and reckless."

“Drinking games are unacceptable on World Cup. Even if you're given a free tab you should be able to show some self-restraint.

"Drinking games are something that happen. It's a part of how a group of lads relax. It's our own fault we came back so unpopular."

On media management

"We were constantly on the back foot with the media. An `us against the press' mentality developed, which wasn't healthy. We all had our guard up because of the advice. As we didn't give them (the press) anything, they were obviously going to find something else to write about.

"The minute the night out hit the papers, the media department hit the panic button and we went into lockdown. (Mike) Tindall got given terrible advice. I said they're going to keep writing about it so at least tell them the truth, tell them your side.

"Ex-players started wading in when we know what they got up to in World Cups and it was worse than us. A siege mentality developed. We need to be more professional in working with the press, not shutting them out."