Shh...please don't mention Richie

Thou shalt not mention All Blacks' flanker and captain Richie McCaw and his ability at the breakdown.

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That seemed to be the light-hearted view after England forwards coach John Wells responded to a question at a press conference about the seeming difference in treatment, from referees, at the breakdown between superstars [McCaw] and mere mortals.

"I know where you're going," Wells told the questioner.

"I think he's an incredible player. He hasn't got his face on the back of every magazine I've picked up for no reason at all.

"I just think he's a very, very smart and intelligent bloke. He's been around a bit, he knows what he can and what he can't get away with.


"I would also say his penalty count in games is quite high but his ability to actually influence what happens in the breakdown is also very high.

"But he risks his arms at times. I think we'll see how the whole thing unfolds and I'm not particularly concerned as to whether he gets favouritism or not," he said.

All without mentioning McCaw's name once.

In games he had seen this year Wells believed there was a level of consistency among referees in all games around controlling the breakdown.

"I think, by and large, the referees are trying to deliver a consistent approach to the breakdown. Sometimes we get it wrong, sometimes the opposition get it wrong and I think if teams go out there with a positive attacking focus on it I get the impression that as a defender you consistently flaunt the rules then you're going to get penalised these days.

"The stats support that and the word of the referees supports that," he said.

Wells said he hadn't watched a lot of Tri Nations rugby ahead of the World Cup because he had been concentrating on England's Cup warm-up games and for their first Cup game against Argentina.

Of what he had seen, South Africa was clearly experimenting, New Zealand had had a wobble but should still be regarded as the favourite while an exciting Australian team had won three games.

He said no-one enjoyed being labelled a favourite and while England had been listed as third favourite his response was in keeping with the party line of a game at a time.

"I know we've got an incredibly tough group, we've got a team that over the last three or four years has been regularly placed higher than us in the IRB rankings, that finished third in the last World Cup, that's got a number of high quality individuals and are a well-coached team in Argentina," he said.

"We've also got to get around Scotland and between the three of us, England, Argentina and Scotland, we've all beaten and lost to each other in the last two years."

Wells said his experience had shown that by the time teams got to a World Cup the playing field had levelled out.

"It's an incredibly tough competition where the psychological aspects of the whole tournament play a massive, massive pre-determination of who wins and loses games," he said.