It’s a pity Ireland didn’t get to meet England in the Rugby World Cup semi-final as the Irish management were apparently privy to some top secret tactical documents from the English camp.
As story after story of England’s calamitous World Cup campaign continues to emerge while the team are on their way back from New Zealand, it has emerged that their tactical plans were found in Ireland’s team hotel three days prior to their quarter-final defeat to France.
Last Wednesday, tactical documents, codes and on-field training drills belonging to the England camp were found in a conference room at the InterContinental Hotel in Wellington, where the Irish team were preparing for the quarter-final with Wales.
How they ended up there remains a mystery, but it is believed that they went amiss while the England team were training in Dunedin, which is where they were based immediately prior to departing for Auckland for the quarter-finals.
Among the documents discovered was an A3 sheet entitled ‘The Big Picture’ which featured a series of bullet-points about the need to focus on discipline, a pressing concern for Martin Johnson and company prior to last weekend, as they had conceded more penalties than any other team by the end of the last eight matches.
Another sheet titled ‘Red Zone’ had the words ‘Adapt if required’ marked with an asterick at the bottom.
There were also briefings on tactical instructions for the back three and the back row, which included buzzwords the players had picked up on while watching some UFC in their leisure time in New Zealand.
Commenting on the tactical leak a spokesperson for the England camp said: “They seem to be totally irrelevant so probably best just to bin them.”
The discovery of the documents raises a number of questions, however. How could someone in the England camp be so careless as to leave such important documents lying around? Was there deliberate sabotage carried out by the Irish camp? Were the Irish management so confident of beating Wales that they were already looking forward to the semi-final?
And perhaps most pertinently, does anyone care now that both teams’ interest in the competition has come to an end?
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ podcast – listen to the latest episode now!
