They are spying on us

Spy fear: Pat Lam

Chris Jones|Evening Standard|In Brisbane

14 April 2012

Pat Lam, Scotland's assistant coach, today claimed spying on opposition teams was widespread at the Rugby World Cup and illegal cameras were present at almost every training session.

With the tournament now at the quarter-final stage, the stakes are even higher and any advantage could prove decisive. Lam, the former Samoa captain, revealed that Scotland had gone back to their hotel to finish their training today in order to try out key moves. They were worried Australians were spying at their Queensland University training ground in Brisbane.

Lam said: "When we came onto the training pitch today, all the coaches were waving at any windows we could see in case there was a camera up there!

"I am sure there are cameras around, trying to get information on us before the match with Australia on Saturday and that's why we opted to do some things back at the hotel. You don't even need to film training, a guy could sit around taking notes. It would be possible to pick up bits and pieces.

"Everyone has to take precautions because you want to keep one or two things secret."

Australia have consistently denied sending people to spy on Scotland during the tournament.

These mind games are set to continue for the rest of the Cup and are in stark contrast to England's attitude. The players have been meeting and greeting the public in Brisbane.

Head coach Clive Woodward is refusing to adopt a siege mentality as his England players prepare to face Wales in their quarter-final on Sunday.

The Brisbane city streets already contain hundreds of England and Wales supporters and tens of thousands more are heading towards the Queensland capital for the match. Woodward today sent his men out to experience that atmosphere first hand.

Despite the intense rugby rivalry between England and Wales, Woodward does not expect any problems. He said: "The players are very sensible, they know how to look after themselves.

"They don't go out on their own and if they did get any idiot coming up to them to cause any problems they can handle themselves."

Woodward has learned his lesson from the failed 2001 Grand Slam bid against Ireland, when England based themselves on the coast outside Dublin for the match and only arrived in the city just before kick off.

This time, the squad is staying right in the heart of the city. Woodward explained: "By the time we arrived on match day, our minds really weren't on the game and we didn't pick up the whole vibe, and we lost.

"This is a very serious tournament that we are in but you can also be too serious about it and become a recluse and we don't want that. "It is good that we are right in the centre of Brisbane.

"For me, that way of doing things has always worked extremely well for England."

There is still real concern over Richard Hill's availability for the quarter-final.

He damaged a hamstring early in England's opening pool match with Georgia and Woodward admitted: "The biggest concern is Richard Hill. This niggling hamstring doesn't seem to go away."

Meanwhile, Australian coach Eddie Jones insists he will not experiment with the starting line-up in the quarter-final against Scotland in Brisbane on Saturday and will pick under-fire captain George Gregan.

Jones said: "George is captain of the side and he's the leader of the team. He's very important to us."

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