COACHES are blamed for almost everything in sport, but one thing you can't accuse England's rugby management of is being narrow minded.

Rugby union has borrowed much from other sports over the last decade, namely rugby league, with England head coach Andy Robinson taking his squad north to train with Super League champions Leeds Rhinos as recently as three weeks ago.

Bath employed the services of Great Britain rugby league legend Ellery Hanley in recent times to work on defensive patterns, and defensive coaches with backgrounds in the 'other' code are smattered throughout the Zurich Premiership and international rugby.

But what, may you ask, does judo have to offer the players who will lead English rugby into the next decade?

Just ask Olympic silver medallist Kate Howey MBE, who was 1997 world judo champion in her division and also received the huge honour of being named Great Britain's flag bearer for last year's games in Greece.

The 31-year-old, who is already regarded as a British legend in her sport, has worked with the senior England squad and put the U21s through their paces in the dojo at Bath University Sports Village as part of their preparation for the Six Nations campaign, starting with Wales tomorrow.

She ran the squad through three tackling drills, and from some of her moves on lads twice her size, it looked as if Howey was not a back row you would want to line up against.

"There's huge similarities between rugby and judo, especially in the tackling area," she said

"How you bring a player down, with what holds and with what technique, will determine which way they fall and also where you fall.

"If you turn them so they are lying away from their support and you fall on top, you can gain your feet quickly and obviously have a better chance of securing a turnover."

It really makes perfect sense. But can you imagine England greats of the past like 'The Blackpool Tower' Wade Dooley taking advice from a judo champion, let alone a female judo champion? I think not.

It just goes to show how much the game, coaching attitudes and techniques have changed over the last decade with the onset of professionalism

"We are willing to listen to anyone who thinks they can give us the edge," said England U21 manager since 2002 Pete Drewett.

"There's a lot of parallels to be drawn with judo technique, it teaches you to stay on your feet, and we're very keen to play a game now that is very much off the floor."

But broad thinking is only one way in which current top level coaches have changed.

What was very much evident in the U21 sessions run by new head coach Jim Mallinder and his assistant Nigel Redman was how they were talking with the players, not at them.

The old phyche of 'this is what we're going to do and this is how we're going to do it' seems to have gone out the window.

The coaching staff were doing just as much listening as the players, it was very much a team effort, in every sense of the phrase.

"We are very much for players and coaches working together. If someone has a new idea on what we should do in the line-out, then they shouldn't be afraid to say it," Drewett said.

"We can do all the coaching we like, but when the guys cross that white line, they are the ones who have to play."

Even at U21 level today's prospective internationals have had an enormous amount of rugby knowledge pumped into them.

Take England U21 centre Simon Whatling for example. Having played for Devizes from minis to U11s, he left to play in one of the best junior teams in the country under Rob Alford at Chippenham, winning the Bristol Combination Cup three times.

Whatling played for Chippenham until U18s and then did A levels at Oldfield School in Bath, part of the first pilot RFU academy scheme.

He began a fully professional career at Bath Rugby after school, exposed to experienced internationals in his position of centre such as Robbie Fleck and Mike Tindall and coaches such as ex-Wallaby hooker of 50 caps Mike Foley and former Queensland Super 12 boss John Connolly.

He has already played for England in three age groups including the 2003 U19 World Cup in South Africa, and since his move to Worcester, has been exposed to high profile backs like French international Thomas Lombard, Scotland cap Ben Hinshelwood and former Springboks Thinus Delport and Giscard Pieters. Why wouldn't you listen to a harmless suggestion the lad might have?

"We're very much all geared toward achieving a common goal, coaches, players, physios everyone," Whatling said of the U21 set up and impending defence of the Six Nation's title in that age group.

"Obviously we have alot of respect for the coaches, they're obviously where they are for a reason, but you find they will at least listen to a suggestion you might have."

The U21 squad actually spent almost no time on a rugby pitch in the first week of the camp, but after the squad was cut to 26 for this week's preparation, put much of the theory into practice.

"We have a black folder with everything in it, all the moves, notes and research on past games," Whatling said.

"There's been lots of team meetings, video analysis and sessions going through things on the big screen - but we've actually been running through quite a bit outside this week."

It's up to each player to know the contents of that black folder inside out, because a misunderstood line-out call or bungled backs' move at a crucial moment is often what swings games in international rugby.

"Being clinical and precise was a hallmark of England's play leading up to the World Cup," said Drewett.

Whether English precision will defeat Welsh pride tomorrow remains to be seen.