England's age-old hooker dilemma

There is a tall story about an Irish hooker scratching his head as he fumbled for the right line- out call to bamboozle the opposition.

'Mother Theresa, Bet Lynch, Pope John, Yogi Bear, The Taoiseach, Route 66, Murphy's.'

The hard bit done, the thrower cocked his arm and took deliberate aim, satisfied that the other side had not a clue where the ball would land. Having taken a little while to work out the call, the catcher concerned smacked his hands against his head in exasperation.

'Bloody hell,' he shouted. 'Me, again!'

The approach may be a bit more scientific these days but, with the allegations of code-breaking and covert operations during this summer's Lions tour to Australia, the line- out has emerged with renewed fascination.

England coach Andy Robinson will demand a 100 per cent return against Australia at Twickenham tomorrow but then he demanded the same against Ireland at Lansdowne Road last month and look what happened. They won less than 70 per cent of their throws and Phil Greening went from No.1 to No.4 in his country's hooker ratings.

The Lions barely managed 50 per cent during the fateful final Test in Sydney, where their communication went so haywire that Neil Back found himself jumping against the giraffe-like John Eales at the tail before Justin Harrison clinched the series by stealing what ought to have been the banker ball, from Keith Wood to Martin Johnson at the front.

If it goes wrong for England again, then it won't be for any lack of preparation, unlike the 1984 England-Australia match when the Wallabies completed a Grand Slam against the home countries.