Robin Brooke: Spies not likely to learn much

I spy with my little eye. That has been the theme of this week as the World Cup gets a little closer and the anxiety a little higher.

Rugby espionage has been around since William Webb Ellis picked up the pig's bladder, although it is an unwritten rule that you don't spy on other teams. Closed training should be respected.

However, the coach always knows a friend of a friend's cousin who might have seen something at an opposition training run.

There are always eyes out there that can spot things, or ears that can hear things.

But an undercover agent is only as good as his memory or his analysis of what he might see, unless he is equipped with a powerful pinhole camera or a telephoto lens. And there is always the chance of the double bluff.

In my time with the All Blacks I don't know if we had people who spied on the opposition. If we did, and I imagine there was some surveillance, then it was best we didn't know about it, it was best we had no idea who the sources were.

I do remember Laurie Mains' fear that we were being spied on one day at Loftus Versfeld during the All Black tour of South Africa in 1992.

It appears the Boks were secretly taping the Wallabies before their test in Cape Town this year, so I guess the All Blacks felt a little suspicious of former Springbok prop Balie Swart at Nelson this week, especially if he was heading home soon to see friends in high places in South African rugby.

These days there is any amount of video footage and computer analysis on any side. Most sides are inside the others' strategies anyway.

There are generally no great secrets at training, just the emphasis you might put on certain moves and when you want to use them. Even if sides fathom out the other's plays, they still have to defend against them.

Sides may get more paranoid at the World Cup if they think they have a new tactic which will work.

In 1995 we had one great secret - Jonah Lomu - but we unleashed that very early. We had nothing much to hide after that.

There are not many grounds in the world which would be spy-proof and when the prize gets greater, like winning the World Cup, then it is understandable that coaching staff can get a bit edgy about intruders close to match time.

The suspicion demonstrates the rising anxiety.

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