Our enemies often know us best. Imagine how many team talks Matt Burke has sat through over the past decade listening to successive Wallaby coaches deconstructing English rugby and its key personalities. Now he has come across to the Zurich Premiership, the 31-year-old must feel like an old-style Soviet defector as he surveys his new surroundings.
In Burke's case he has gone even further and landed on Planet Wilkinson, otherwise known as Kingston Park in Newcastle. Having been the world's best kicker himself and racked up 878 points in 81 Tests, including 25 points in a World Cup final, it has been a slightly surreal experience watching Jonny Wilkinson, whom he last saw drop-kicking the Wallabies to death last November, endlessly honing his art. "Hey, you're making me look bad," yelled Burke on his first day, to no avail. No wonder people ask if he has joined the right club - goals to Newcastle and all that.
As yet the affable Burke, poised to make his debut off the bench at Bath today, has not been in the north-east long enough to be familiar with either Geordie culture or the climate. In time he will discover bare arms are not just for sunny days on Tyneside but he does know, from experience, what lies ahead for Wilkinson and England in their post-Woodward period of consolidation.
In the gold and green of Australia the full-back-cum-centre was part of a squad who fought back from a disappointing World Cup in 1995 to win the trophy in 1999 before regrouping under a new coach to reach last year's final. Who better to advise English rugby, still reeling from Sir Clive Woodward's departure, how to get things back on track?
Burke's first concern is Wilkinson himself. In midweek, watching the England captain-elect fill every available second with yet more kicking practice, he could contain himself no longer. "I look at him and see a little bit of myself in what he's doing," he says softly. "When you're that age you think you're indestructible. I ripped my groin off virtually because I was kicking too much. Now I know it's about quality not quantity. But it's great to see his dedication. The reason he kicks so well is because he puts in the practice."
Burke also has cautionary words for Andy Robinson, assuming the latter succeeds Woodward on a permanent basis. "The hardest thing to say is 'We're in a rebuilding phase'. The public hate that. They want their national team to win games, so you've got to pick teams to do that. Players retiring make it harder but the most difficult thing, as I'm sure England are finding, is that everyone is out to get you. If you're off the mark by even a tiny amount it's magnified."
By now even the diplomatic Burke, who faced England seven times in a Test career spanning 11 years, is starting to warm to his theme a shade too persuasively, insisting that Australia were less vulnerable post-1999 than England are now. "You've got to look at the cattle in the team. We still had the likes of Horan, Little, Eales, Wilson, a good front-row, established halves and pretty good finishers out wide as well. We had the basis of a team going into the World Cup and coming out the other side we were able to hold our own for a couple of years.
"It's a difficult thing to win the cup but defending it afterwards is the challenge. It ultimately comes down to your own performance and looking after your own backyard." Will he be delighted if the Wallabies repeat their 51-15 summer drubbing of England at Twickenham in November? "There's no element of revenge for the World Cup. That's happened. It's the spoken word, it's gone." Nor, he adds swiftly, did he shake Wilkinson warmly by the throat when he met him. "I was sitting on the sideline for the entire World Cup final, so I was filthy before the game started."
If he was hacked off that night in Sydney, he was even more upset to be told he was surplus to requirements at his beloved NSW Waratahs this year, another reason to suspect the Falcons have not signed one of those big-name imports whose eye is less on the ball than their monthly cheque. Whether it be England, Newcastle or its coastal namesake back in his native New South Wales, Burke also has few peers when it comes to his professional attitude and is intrigued to see the talent lurking within the English club game.
"I remember Timmy Horan saying to me a couple of years ago: 'Watch out for James Simpson-Daniel and Josh Lewsey.' I hadn't heard of them then but they'd clearly been making noises in the Premiership."
As well as talent-spotting, he would like to travel Europe and atone for the frustrating lack of social breadth on the increasingly intense modern rugby tour. As he says ruefully: "All I've basically seen is an airport, a bus, a hotel and a football field." He dimly remembers once travelling to Bath to play in a night game but, for the most part, the coming weeks will be a fresh experience. No wonder Rob Andrew, his director of rugby, reports his new man is raring to go.
It will take him time to adjust, particularly with two young daughters under the age of three who have yet to adapt to the time difference and are keeping dad awake at night. But with Wilkinson, Mark Mayerhofler and Jamie Noon offering threats elsewhere, opposition defenders may also sleep uneasily when Burke hits his stride. If England's coaches wish to pick his brains, they know where he is.
