Shaun Edwards remains a potent thorn in England's side

Shaun Edwards played his only game of Rugby Union for England so long ago that Ollie Campbell’s goals had just made Ireland joint champions of the Five Nations.

Never can the shortest of careers have had more of a recurring impact on English fortunes than Edwards captaincy of their schoolboy team against Wales at Bristol in the spring of 1983. The price the RFU has had to pay for their inability to get him on-side at any stage since the collapse of the sport’s Berlin Wall a quarter of a century ago still knows no bounds.