Not so long ago English rugby union players wishing to associate with their league cousins had to assume a false name and keep quiet to avoid being excommunicated by Twickenham. These days there is a greater sense of entente cordiale, as they say in Halifax and Hunslet, but England's head coach Andy Robinson broke new ground yesterday by revealing plans for his side to train against a team from the 13-man code.
Arrangements are still at the formative stage, but Robinson's first bold initiative since being confirmed as Sir Clive Woodward's successor is aimed at encouraging his players to look north for inspiration. "I'm in discussions to train with a rugby league side because I believe we can learn a number of things from them," explained Robinson, to the sound of Rugby Football Union dinosaurs spinning furiously in their graves.
The 40-year-old coach, however, is deadly serious, and keen to try anything which fosters "a fresh environment" as he seeks to rebuild the World Cup-winning squad. With so many league-schooled defensive coaches now working in union, he is also clearly chasing some up-to-date tips on how to outwit them and said he hoped shared training sessions would become a "regular" aspect of England's preparations. "Rugby league is a great game," he said. "It's a completely different game from union but it will be refreshing for our squad to see how the league players play. It's something I want to happen."
The proposal will not be greeted with universal rapture in the rugby league community, which may well feel it has done union too many favours lately. As a player with Bath, Robinson was among those who had his eyes opened by the cross-code challenge matches with Wigan in 1996, since when a range of league legends including Jason Robinson, Iestyn Harris and Henry Paul have made high-profile switches to union.
The cross-pollination is such that two of England's four-man management team - the defence expert Phil Larder and attack coach Joe Lydon - made their names in league while the Super League champions Leeds Rhinos and their union sister club Leeds Tykes share the same training facilities and stadium. Much common ground clearly exists, particularly in terms of coaching methods, as demonstrated by the success at Newport Gwent Dragons of Chris Anderson, who was at the helm of Australia's league team until a year ago and had only a passing interest in union.
Nevertheless, some England union supporters are entitled to wonder whether Robinson's first big idea is less innovative than it sounds and is simply a case of a coach trying to steal fresh ideas, magpie-like, off the clever bloke at the neighbouring desk. League officials will also be unimpressed if their top stars end up rubbing shoulders with their 15-a-side peers, like what they find and switch codes themselves. There is also the little matter of finding a mutually agreeable date, with league now primarily a summer sport. As with Woodward's notion of sharing a training session with France, it could just turn out to be a better idea on paper than it proves in reality.
Robinson, though, is at the exuberant stage of his tenure where, as he put it, "no stone is being left unturned". To stir things up England will no longer be training exclusively in Surrey, as was the case under Woodward, and next week, probably on Tuesday, the 54-man training squad the new head coach inherited will be whittled down to 40 ahead of the November internationals.
The former Test flanker has also reiterated his mission statement of making England the first country to win successive World Cups, and made clear that several places "are up for grabs" for the Canada Test on November 13, challenging those players struggling for form to up their game.
Between now and Christmas, Robinson wants to dispel England's post-World Cup hangover. "I want to see a real enthusiasm about the way we play. We became very narrow in our approach to win a World Cup and we need to re-introduce more width and creativity into our game." As well, it would seem, as a few more northern accents.
