CHRIS HEWETT
GUEST COLUMNIST

As a rule of thumb, rugby folk do not pick an intellectual fight with the great New Zealand coach Wayne Smith for the same reason that the average barstool bully thinks twice before throwing a punch at Tyson Fury. In simple terms, they know they’ll finish second.
Which brings us to Richard Cockerill, who may have been something of a ruffian during his playing days in the Leicester and England front rows but is far brighter – immeasurably so, according to those who have coached alongside him – than his many and varied detractors would have us believe.
England’s...