Rugby stalwarts shaken but not stirred

Scott Johnson

You won't see jersey number 007 at tonight's test match, but James Bond would be right at home among the darker antics taking place on the sidelines tonight.

For starters, watch out for the shaggy-haired antics of Welsh assistant coach and Aussie mole Scott Johnson, who arrived this week for the test matches.

Listed as an "observer", he is possibly the highest-paid waterboy in rugby and will be close to the action all night, employing some high-tech tools - his ears - to pick up the All Blacks lineout calls.

The tactic isn't anything new. Johnson's fabulous hearing was credited as a factor in Australia's series victory over Graham Henry's Lions in 2001, and three years later Wallabies coach Eddie Jones admitted to using Sportsears - headphones sold to fans so they could hear the referee's microphone - to collect Springbok lineout calls. By the end of that match Australia had intercepted six opposition throws.

But spying aside, Johnson will also be used to inform the Lions' players of tactical changes required by coach Sir Clive Woodward via two-way radio linkup.

In contrast, the All Blacks' waterboy will be a humble member of their medical team, but don't doubt he will also be carrying as many messages as he does litres.

Radio is clearly a vital if potentially vulnerable tool, but when approached by the Weekend Herald, neither camp would say whether their transmissions would be encoded or if they planned to listen to their opponents.

Such a possibility is not as paranoid as you might think. Just ask Darryl Suasua. The Black Ferns' 10-year winning streak came to an unexpected end in 2001 after Suasua's English counterpart tapped into his radio conversations.

Woodward also knows the risks. His English team had their hotel rooms swept for listening devices for two years before the 2003 World Cup.

Kieran Crowley, former All Blacks and selector and coach of the Taranaki side that lost the second match of the Lions tour, says they don't scramble their radio messages even though he suspects some opponents have tried to listen into them.

But Crowley laughed off any thought of eavesdropping on the Lions and said what preparation time they had was better spent on the players rather than trialling a radio frequency finder.

Still, Crowley wouldn't be surprised if the Lions tried to decipher Taranaki's lineout calls.

He said teams already scoured match tapes for details. Careful scrutiny not only revealed calls, but also the cues locks use to time their leaps.

Victorious New Zealand Maori coach Matt Te Pou says secrecy has almost replaced accuracy as a rugby axiom.

His squad went undercover for the first time this year and practised all their secret moves indoors, away from prying eyes.

"We paid a lot of attention to secrecy and security. We kept tighter, tighter than ever before, and were less open than ever before.

" The word is spies ... look at the Exocet missile, you can send them through a car window.

"So do you think picking up lineout calls can be done from a distance? Of course it can. Are they picking up lineout calls from up close? Of course they are."

Subterfuge is just sad, said another Lions victim, Wellington NPC coach John Plumtree. "Pinching lineout calls? I don't really think that's fair, and if that's part of the professional game then I don't like that side of it."