“There were 30 of them, aged 24 to 36 – that’s an average of only two top players coming through each year.”There will be seven camps for the juniors and intermediates before the players feed into England’s Under-19 and Under-21 Six Nations sides early in 2005. Mallinder and Redman will take the Under-21s, who won the Grand Slam last season, while Tosh Askew and West are in charge of the Under-19s. Give me 10 press-ups.” Invited observers from the Romanian Rugby Union were taking detailed notes.The day concluded with a mental-skills company, Gazing, preaching the value of ignor-ing unwanted distractions. “We were given a role-play of someone who had just lost a game and had to work out how to take the best out of that situation,” said Higgins. The secret apparently is to stay in “the blue” and out of “the red”.Each coach is mentor to a relevant set of players; hence Mallinder, the former Sale and England full-back, takes the back-three men, among them the pacy Gloucester wing Marcel Garvey.The Premiership clubs receive £10,000 for each National Academy player on their books, but how do they take to this extra tier of training? “We don’t stride in there and tell the directors of rugby what to do,” said Mallinder. “I spend plenty of time at the clubs, maybe taking a session on the high ball and cross-field kicks, or sitting down with their own academy coaches.”Last season, two teenagers – Newcastle Falcons’ centre Mathew Tait and flanker Tom Rees from London Wasps – jumped from the junior to the senior academy, which includes the likes of James Forrester, Harry Ellis and Olly Barkley. But by Ashton’s reckoning, more than half the junior and intermediate intake will fall by the wayside “Look at England’s World Cup-winning squad,” he said.

“But you’re all professional sportsmen, aren’t you?” Cue nods all round.Out on the fields of Claverton Down, Mallinder conducted a smart and snappy session on handling: “Keep that ball out in front of you, please.. Accuracy!.. Good chat – get the ball when you want it… “If you must do it, a glass or two of red wine is OK,” said Weighman. Rising at 7am, the wannabe Jonny Wilkinsons had a conditioning session, followed by breakfast and a debrief of the previous camp.During an informal lecture on nutrition with Dr Tim Weighman, ears pricked up at a question on alcohol intake. To make matters worse, Farrell went down the tunnel with the British doctor after half-an-hour.Britain badly needed to be the first side on the scoreboard in the second half. After just two minutes they were, thanks to a decision to take a tap penalty in front of the sticks.

The finishing touch was applied by Newton, who showed a glimpse of his Wigan form by throwing a dummy and darting over. Paul Sculthorpe added the goal.New Zealand almost struck back immediately but Thomas Leuluai ran out of support, and after 48 minutes Britain were level. Again choosing to run a penalty after Webb had gone high on Martin Gleeson, they found room on the left, although after McGuire’s invention and Senior’s link-play Reardon’s try was too far out for Sculthorpe to convert.Three minutes later they were ahead, McGuire making the killing break for Reardon to score the vital third try. With Farrell back on the field, there was a new level of self-belief about the British. They still had to defend desperately at times as the Kiwis came back at them in search of their first win of the competition, but Farrell’s boot edged the hosts further ahead and when he finally left the field for good, Harris made sure that there would be no last-minute drama this time.Great Britain: Wellens (St Helens); Carney (Wigan), Gleeson (Warrington), Senior (Leeds), Reardon (Bradford); McGuire (Leeds), Long (St Helens); Fielden (Bradford), Newton (Wigan), Morley (Sydney), Peacock (Bradford), Farrell (Wigan, capt), Sculthorpe (St Helens). Last Sunday evening, a group of 18 checked into their simple single rooms at the university for a two-day camp of skills sessions and informal meetings.