Six Nations 2019: England v Italy - Scott Wisemantel adds attacking edge

Wisemantel (right) played rugby league for Paramatta Eels and was part of Australia's coaching team at the 2007 World Cup

How much freedom will England's backroom staff, sitting in the Twickenham gods, allow their players?

How do they make sure their instructions are useful stage directions rather than tactical straitjackets?

It is a balance Scott Wisemantel is constantly seeking to find.

"You have to be quite fluid and have basic principles rather than hard and fast rules," the England attack coach told BBC Sport.

"We definitely want to be quite precise in the first two phases and then have some basic shapes they can move into."

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If it sounds like interpretative dance in theory, it is backed by improvisation sessions in practice.

England training now includes time for players to riff on high-risk rugby.

The notoriously demanding Eddie Jones turns a blind eye as his squad have carte blanche from Wisemantel to attempt game-breaking moments.

"We are actually getting the players to express themselves. Within training, there is a segment where it is OK to make mistakes to try and become better at a certain skill," Wisemantel adds.

"The reason I go down that route is if you practise conservatively all the time and a game is in the balance and you need to do something extraordinary, if you haven't trained up that skill it is very difficult to skill it up.

"If you have trained that up though, it is easy to dumb it down if you just have to close a game out."

Wisemantel was brought into the England set-up last May to jump-start Jones' stalling side.

They ran in five tries against the Springboks in the first match following his appointment and in the autumn scored more tries than New Zealand and Australia in their Twickenham meetings.

So far in this year's Six Nations they have scored 11 tries, only three short of last year's total for the whole campaign, with matches against Scotland and Italy still to come.

Wisemantel emphasises that, like the players, the coaches are a team.

He worked alongside Steve Borthwick, the line-out coach, to create the ambitious long throw that ultimately led to Jonny May's try early in their win over Ireland.

As well as leaning on his current colleagues, the Australian draws on his experiences of playing rugby league and coaching at various clubs and countries in both hemispheres.

And, like Jones, he also looks to other sports for inspiration.

"I watch a lot of football, field hockey, Aussie Rules - games where you have to move the ball up the field and there is space to manipulate," he adds.

England coach Eddie Jones visited West Ham in April 2018 and has also consulted netball, hockey, cricket coaches in pursuit of an attacking edge

Canny pre-planned moves have provided the key moment in several high-profile games recently.

Fewer than three months before that long line-out set the tone for England's win in Dublin, the Irish beat the All Blacks via a clever first-phase switch to release Jacob Stockdale down the blindside for the game's only try.

With defences bigger, faster and more disciplined than ever, could Wisemantel foresee a day when rugby apes American football with enormous playbooks detailing an arsenal of pre-planned moves?

"We do have set-plays in place to try and break down defences but it is never going to get as extensive as the NFL because there it requires so much information," he said.

"The forwards have to learn the line-out, then a playbook. If that playbook is like 'War and Peace', they are never going to remember it.

"The game is fluid. The players don't get the break like they do in NFL, it is continuous, that is its beauty."

The last time this weekend's visitors Italy were at Twickenham, they exploited a loophole in the game's ruck laws to flood 'offside', confusing the home crowd and players while putting a significant spanner in the chariot's spokes.

"It was credit to Conor O'Shea as a coach," said Wisemantel.

"He is quite creative. It is good and exciting for us because it is something different."

Exciting and different are exactly what Wisemantel's job description boils down to.