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The 1-10 effect

The ball stops here!

Sat at my desk, shifting through the aftermath of the shock wins of England and France - as well as counting my winnings - my moment of calm was broken by a voice of discontent.

"This World Cup is going to ruin the game at a club level."

Pardon?

"This World Cup is going to ruin the game at a club level," the voice chirped up again.

Now, thanks to the marvels of Sky+ (a shameless corporate plug there, but it is a marvellous little gadget) I have been fortunate enough to watch nearly every minute of the tournament - and without a doubt it has been a fantastic competition.

Okay, there have been some games that only the purist would get excited about (normally when Romania were involved), and the odd dud (normally when Scotland were involved), however as a whole there has been something for everyone.

So what has got The Voice sat in the banks of desks behind me all hot under the collar?

"Club sides will now realise what they need to do to win."

What?

"Club sides will now realise what they need to do to win."

Okay The Voice has not realised when I say "What" or "Pardon" I want him to expand on his point, but we soldier on regardless.

What?

"Sides at a club level will now just resort to a kicking game to win."

Hold on, isn't this what sides up and down the country have been doing for years?

"No."

With that definitive explanation The Voice was off, to where no one knew - and frankly, I am not sure they cared.

However, I did. Such an off-the-cuff remark needed to be proved wrong and taken apart with a structured argument. You can't just slag off a tactic like that and stomp off. What's wrong with 1-10 rugby?

The English approach to rugby has always been a 1-to-10 tactic - and very little has changed throughout the years.

While Wales and Ireland were producing an exciting stock of fly-halves that could run games and release their backs, England have become masters of producing the kicking number ten.

Don't get me wrong - there have been the fly-halves who are prone to moments of madness, like passing to the inside centre, or more wildly a miss-pass. However, ultimately the ability to kick the leather off the Gilbert has been the key skill.

And the platform for the kicking king has come from a pack that can happily maul and ruck for 80 minutes.

Very much in the same way that England footballers struggle to comprehend life outside the tried and tested 4-4-2 formation - the rugby players are the same with 1-to-10 rugby.

Many a Saturday in my playing days I spent on the wing or full-back or even the centres and barely saw the ball.

On the one occasion Ripon's second team captain let me loose in the number ten jersey, I was quickly hauled over the coals for continually passing the ball out and not kicking for position.

My father delights in recalling a tale during his playing days of a so-called "team-mate" who had not touched the ball for 70 minutes out on the wing and was so cold during a match that he weed himself to keep warm. My father seems to forget I know he only ever played on the wing!

Personally, I can still remember the different calls at the clubs I represented for all these fancy moves that we practiced in training... the M1 and M2s, the L1 and L2s, The Australian, the DDP and the ever-faithful quick hands.

At one club, the pitch was even divided up in to sections of where the attack would aim for depending on the code.

However, no matter how many times we went through the moves in midweek, on matchday the inevitable call from the fly-half came: "I think I am going to kick this one lads."

Really? Now there is a shock.

I think I only ever got to do the DDP (a cunning double dummy and pop pass to the full-back coming into the line at pace) once, however I dropped the ball and the move was never repeated, while the forwards refused to speak to us for a week.

Ultimately the English player remains more comfortable with the 1-to-10 tactic.

The appointment of Brian Ashton was supposed to see a new, free-flowing attacking play to England's game.

Ashton's approach is to let the players go with the flow and try things off-the-cuff. However even he has seen sense - and that this doesn't work on the international stage.

The sight of Ben Kay's attempted grubber kick flying out on the full when he was 10 yards from the South African line and support on his outside was evidence enough for the prosecution.

So back England go to playing to their strengths, a powerful pack and a world-class kicking fly-half.

But will this effect the club game? Unlikely. Just cast your mind back four years to when England won the World Cup. Did they win it playing attacking rugby?

No, they won it through a powerful pack and world-class kicking fly-half - and the game flourished at a club level, because what really counts after all is winning.

By Tony Curtis