The biggest bully of them all: Martin Johnson

ENGLAND like to bully teams. It’s their modus operandi. Throughout international rugby history, successful English sides have usually been aggressors.

The formula is simple. Use a massive pack as a battering ram to smash the opposition forwards. This creates the platform for a kicking out-half to put points on the board: three, six, nine. Then later in the game the space will open up for a quick back three to inflict further agony. Death by a thousand cuts.

Tim Rodber, Martin Bayfield, Rob Andrew, and Tony Underwood played the lead roles through the 90s. They were perfect fits for the English modus operandi and they helped their team dominate the Six Nations year after year. However, contests against the southern hemisphere countries were less fruitful. They could withstand the physicality of the English forwards, wait until they tired and then strike out wide.