There have been better times to be a defence coach with the game taking the ‘entertainment’ route and focusing on quick release, increased ball in play time and zero tolerance to acts of sabotage by defenders.

Television match officials are far more likely to intervene for a borderline knock-on, as happened at Franklin’s Gardens last weekend which cost Gloucester seven points in a match they lost by four, than an attacker joining a ruck close to the opposition line from the side or diving over the top of it and sealing off, an act that cost Northampton Saints the lead late on at Bath in their...