Former England hooker Brian Moore turned his attentions to the turgid Leicester v Wasps Premiership clash in his column for The Daily Telegraph, and wasn't convinced that the ELVs were entirely to blame for the lack of action.

"With the ELVs the commentators were trapped by accepting some of the nonsense parroted about their influence. It is clearly possible to have rubbish and brilliance whatever laws you apply. I recently watched the 1988 England v Australia match on the ESPN Classic channel, which was superb entertainment.

"In fact there were so many basic errors and aimless kicking that Plato could not have disentangled the relative influences of many contributory factors. If I were John O'Neill, the Australian Rugby Union chief executive, I would say that this game was poor. It was played under the ELVs; ergo, the ELVs are poor. The truth is that this game was deeply unsatisfactory for a host of reasons that had no link to any new laws.

"Neither side had sufficient ambition to risk much in attack - Wasps because they are chronically short of confidence and were making multiple unforced errors, and Leicester because they didn't feel they needed to until far too late."

The Sunday Times publishes extracts from Ronan O'Gara's autobiography where the Ireland and Munster fly-half offers an insight into his side's 2007 Rugby World Cup campaign.

"Georgia was a disaster. Humiliating. They killed us up front. We lost too many collisions. The ruck area was a shambles. Every time we took the ball into contact it was slow coming back. At that stage it was about knocking their heads off. Half of that is technique, half of it is mental. Having the edge to go and do it. There's a phrase in rugby: Hammer the hammer. When their big men are carrying the ball you drive them back. One guy hits him and then another hits him. We weren't doing it.

"When we let Georgia into the game they grew another few inches. The crowd got behind the underdogs and they came lashing into us. They had a limited game plan but it was hugely effective. As a top team should we have been able to counter that? Absolutely.

"Things got heated in the second half. Drico ate the head off Peter Stringer for their intercept try. I had a go at Issac Boss near the end. People were shouting at the pack to sort themselves out. It was a bad scene. In that situation you don't have time to think about the big picture. All you're thinking about is the next re-start, the next possession, the next tackle. My head was fit to explode.

"Losing that match would have been the lowest point in the history of Irish rugby. Winning that match felt like the lowest point in the history of Irish rugby."

Talking in the Independent, Saracens boss Eddie
Jones recalls what he has learnt about team leaders in his previous time working with the Wallabies and Springboks.

"I've been pretty fortunate with the senior players I've had. John Eales struck everyone as the nicest bloke in the world, but when he was captain of the Wallabies he could be pretty tough. I remember when a member of the staff came into the team room wearing a collarless shirt, which was against the very strict dress code. John took one look at him and said: "Out! And don't come back until you find yourself a proper shirt."

"More recently, I worked with the Springboks and was struck by John Smit's contribution. The South Africans still have an intense provincial rivalry within the Test squad: the Blue Bulls from Pretoria do things differently to the Sharks from Durban; the guys from Cape Town have a culture of their own. Smit was outstanding in stitching the different threads into something whole. He also had the guts to tell the coaches their fortunes. If he thought that day's training had been dreadful, he was prepared to say so. There aren't too many players with the confidence to do that in the up-front way he did it."

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, RFU disciplinary officer Jeff Blackett defends his recent criticism of Premiership refereeing.

"This week I took the unprecedented action of criticising rugby match officials in public as part of my judgment in the James Haskell case. I took no pleasure in so doing because their positions of authority are essential to the integrity and well-being of the game. Since I have previously taken disciplinary action against coaches who have publicly criticised referees, they are entitled to ask what was the difference in this instance?

"Rugby is a professional game. All those who participate in the elite end must be accountable. It matters when referees make bad decisions. There is no space for officials and administrators to hide from public scrutiny."