While one was speaking, the other sat back and glowered. When the roles were reversed, the silent partner leaned forward, looking into the middle distance, his face blank. Any student of body language would have had a field day interpreting the attitudes of Rob Andrew and Andy Robinson during a joint press conference before tomorrow's match at Twickenham, where they send their side out to face New Zealand in the first match of what Andrew, two months into his appointment as the RFU's elite director of rugby, calls "a new era, in all ways".
The arrival of Andrew, the darling of half Twickenham's faithful and the bete noire of the rest in his days as a 71-cap fly-half, completed a wholesale restructuring imposed this summer on Robinson, who was promoted to the role of head coach two and a half years ago. Under Robinson the world champions have plunged to a dismal sixth place in the international rankings, and now the mighty All Blacks are threatening to extend England's current run of five consecutive defeats.
It was tempting to sift their words, as well as their actions, for signs of early rifts in this marriage of convenience and contrast between the eloquent 43-year-old Yorkshireman, who left the job of Newcastle Falcons' director of rugby to join England, and his 42-year-old Somerset-born head coach, a far more guarded communicator. Most of the time they echoed each other. "We want to see the players taking responsibility," Andrew said. "We've got to play with some intelligence," Robinson asserted.
Initiative and intelligence are certainly among the qualities that their supporters, increasingly dismayed by the team's reversion to an old-fashioned reliance on strength in the pack, would like to see in tomorrow's performance against a side setting new standards in the world game. The return of Brian Ashton, the veteran attack coach whose influence inspired Sir Clive Woodward's squad to displays of inventiveness not seen from England in generations, is one promising factor. Great uncertainty surrounds the viability of the Andrew-Robinson partnership.
These relationships are not easy to forge, and history offers little encouragement. In 1994 Jack Rowell, then England's team manager, grew impatient as a World Cup approached; after engineering the departure of Dick Best, the head coach, he took command of team affairs himself in time for the following summer's trip to South Africa.
But a show of unity was the theme as Andrew and Robinson looked ahead to tomorrow's big test, speaking optimistically about their work together over the past eight weeks and of the challenge that looms in the coming month, when Argentina and South Africa follow New Zealand into the English game's expanded headquarters. But just as Twickenham's new south stand awaits its roof and other details, so England know that more time will be needed to restore the team's ambition to mount a respectable defence of the World Cup in France next summer.
"I've said that we can only really judge it at the end of the Six Nations," Andrew said, "and I stand by that. I don't think we should get too carried away at this point in time. This is a massive, massive one-off game. It couldn't possibly be any bigger in terms of the world champions - and let's not forget that England are still the world champions - playing the team who have been the outstanding side for the last two years and at the moment probably feel that they are the pretenders to that title. But there's enormous expectation on the All Blacks, and in many respects they're under more pressure than we are."
For Robinson, the game will turn on his players' willingness to take the game to the opposition and their ability to adapt themselves to changing circumstances. "You go on to a pitch," he said, "asking the questions about the team you're playing against, and finding the answers about how to win. It's a matter of being intelligent in doing that. And I think that's the key component for us.
"We're going to go out and start a certain way, and we've got other areas of how we can take the game. I don't want to give those things away, but that means playing in different ways, and I think we have the team that can do that. It's OK doing it in training, it's OK doing it when there's less pressure against you, but that's the challenge to us, to go out and execute under the highest pressure.
"We believe we can get out there and ask a lot of questions of this New Zealand squad, both physically and mentally, and that's the key - to get out there and challenge them. First kick-off, first attacking plays. How we defend, how we get in their faces. That's asking the questions. Our players have been doing that for the last eight weeks. They've been going out there and putting themselves through it, putting their bodies on the line. They know what's coming. They know the challenge that's in front of them. It's about the players being able to step over the whitewash and do it."
Andrew responded to an invitation to describe his contribution during the build-up by emphasising his lack of interest in usurping the coach's hands-on role. But he left no doubt of his responsibility for ensuring that, in the new training environment of Bisham Abbey and with Robinson flanked by a new group of assistants, England start the job of playing a more adventurous and progressive brand of rugby without delay.
"A lot of the input was in the selection process," he said, "and in making sure that everything surrounding the preparation of this week has been as well oiled as it can be. As we said right from the start, and I'll repeat, Andy is the head coach. We've got a great coaching team, and this week has been about letting them focus on getting the work done.
"We've talked for two months about all sorts of things - about how we want the team to play. We want to see all the qualities we expect of an England side in respect of the set-piece work and the winning of the ball, and from an attacking point of view we just want to see a little bit more threat, a little bit more variation, in lots of different ways.
"It's down to Andy and the coaches now to put that into practice. There's a lot of confidence in this group. I don't think they're fazed by going into this game. The mood is very positive, the sessions have been very good, and clearly now it's about turning that work into the real thing, and none of us will know about that until we see what happens on Sunday. We have a lot of talented players but we also want to see them making some decisions out there. Put the ball back in their court a little bit."
Robinson stopped glowering and nodded vigorously. Unity is the word, for now.
Twickenham Tomorrow, kick-off 3.30pm
15 I Balshaw Gloucester
14 P Sackey Wasps
13 J Noon Newcastle
12 A Allen Gloucester
11 B Cohen Northampton
10 C Hodgson Sale
9 S Perry Bristol
1 A Sheridan Sale
2 G Chuter Leicester
3 J White Leicester
4 D Grewcock Bath
5 B Kay Leicester
6 M Corry Leicester, capt
7 L Moody Leicester
8 P Sanderson Worcester
Replacements L Mears (Bath), S Turner (Sale), C Jones (Sale), M Lund (Sale), P Richards (Gloucester), A Goode (Leicester), M Van Gisbergen (Wasps)
15 M Muliaina Waikato
14 R Gear Tasman
13 M Nonu Wellington
12 A Mauger Canterbury
11 J Rokocoko Auckland
10 D Carter Canterbury
9 B Kelleher Waikato
1 T Woodcock N Harbour
2 K Mealamu Auckland
3 C Hayman Otago
4 C Jack Tasman
5 K Robinson Waikato
6 R Thorne Canterbury
7 R McCaw C'bury, capt
8 C Masoe Wellington
Replacements A Hore (Taranaki), J Afoa (Auckland), C Dermody (Southland), R So'oialo (W'ton), A Ellis (C'bury), L MacDonald (C'bury, S Sivivatu (Waikato)
Referee Joel Jutge (France)
