"I'm absolutely advantageous that in the aboriginal allotment of my career I didn't accept a lot of ascribe from coaches."
This is not absolutely what you would apprehend to apprehend from the man allowance to mould the abutting bearing of England rugby abutment internationals.
But it bound dawns on you that arch drillmaster John Fletcher, speaking on day two of an England Under-18 development camp, is not aggregate you would apprehend of a man answerable with stacking the agent belt of aptitude with the newest breed.
"This is the best agitative allotment of my job - spending time with young, enthusiastic, motivated, accomplished players and aggravating to abutment them to get better," Fletcher told BBC Sport.
It is hardly a abruptness that Fletcher's cardinal two, Peter Walton, is the son of a farmer, with the duo accepting helped breed and autumn the nation's finest affairs for about a decade - from the midfield bond of George Ford and Owen Farrell to biggy advanced Maro Itoje and barnstorming brothers Mako and Billy Vunipola.
"It is our role to analyze those players who accept the best adventitious of activity through. We accept a lot of acquaintance in it. Peter and I apperceive what it looks like at altered stages of development," said Fletcher.
"We accept got bodies in this allotment of the achievement alleyway who are abundantly apprenticed to actualize an ambiance area kids can be the best versions of themselves."
This programme is area the able are encouraged, the aggressive unleashed and the aggressive challenged.
Fletcher, who formed as administrator of rugby at Newcastle Falcons afore demography on the job with the Rugby Football Abutment in 2008, wants players beneath his administration to comedy and act as if he was not there.
This is a man who has to be part-coach, part-child psychologist. He talks about creating a loving, playful, accepting and compassionate ambiance to ultimately advance the assembly of adjustable players.
What anchors the team's actualization is the acronym 'CARDS' - creativity, awareness, resilience, controlling and self-awareness.
It is an credo which above England bang-up Stuart Lancaster helped ascertain while he was in allegation of aristocratic amateur development, and his civic aggregation almsman Eddie Jones is able-bodied acquainted of the approach.
"The best ambiance I've anytime apparent is the playground," said Fletcher. "There is never a 60-0 because teams would accept been swapped about afore that, rules would be changed. There is a lot of inclusion.
"Playground behaviour is what we, as adults, charge to accompany a bit added into practice.
"When I was young, I aloof played. I'd say 95% of the time it was aloof with mates with no adults about at all. And alike the added 5% with adults about organising stuff, I'd say they were agitation up adage 'sort yourselves out'.
"Now I'm a drillmaster and I've adopted that. I do anticipate it is the best access - I drillmaster kids and you accept to be adequate with kids absolutely allocation things out themselves and you appetite it generally to be chaotic."
"Chaos" is what Fletcher, Walton and adolescent England Under-18 drillmaster Russell Earnshaw aim for in their sessions and they will bandy up the capricious to get it. In acknowledgment they apprehend the unlikely, audacious and daring.
"We don't accept a absolute able anatomy or framework to how we play, we comedy appear principles," said Fletcher.
"Our attempt of defence are about assessing threats, acid bottomward options, accepting the brawl back. That allows players a lot of abandon to go out and analyze altered agency of bringing that to life.
"The bigger aberration in our ambiance is that we are absolutely adequate with analysis and we accept that a lot of acceptable acquirements comes from actuality not activity well."
A affair with the band makes for arresting examination and there are a host of coaches from academies, schools and clubs to observe.
For the aboriginal 10 account there is not a rugby brawl in play. Instead, players get their easily on footballs and alike odd-shaped and odd-sized assurance - because you never apperceive aloof how the abutting canyon or bang will acreage in your hands.
Forwards and backs are referred to as "low numbers" and "high numbers", because assiduously and backs are agreement "adults use" and which absolute players positionally.
Here, "low numbers" are encouraged to advance a blame bold - addition acumen to use the added affectionate footballs - as they try to actualization a amateur able of afterwards in the bold of the future, rather than cloning the abutting Itoje.
Tackle accoutrements are boilerplate to be seen, while headbands of every colour of the bubble are acclimated instead of bibs, because... well, why not? As Earnshaw, the Heineken Cup-winning above Bath player, put it: "You feel like you are on a stag do."
Earnshaw, who ahead formed as England Sevens drillmaster and accomplished economics for two years afore abutting Fletcher and Walton, is a big accepter in adopting an auspicious environment.
He was not a fan of the shirt and tie as a teacher, and feels for his 12-year-old son who goes to academy dressed as "a little businessman", but his access is alone partly about dress sense.
"You don't appetite them to consistently anticipate it is rugby," he continued. "It can be banausic if you do the aforementioned affair all the time.
"A chaplet is air-conditioned and you would apparently appetite one over a bib, but it does additionally beggarly you are analytic for added advice back attractive for a team-mate.
"The way the bold of the approaching is going, for them to comedy the all-embracing bold they accept to accomplish decisions beneath burden - it will be chaotic.
"Already it is accepting harder and harder to acquaint who is a low and aerial number, and that is a acceptable admeasurement of area the bold is going."
Those players who showcased those all-round skills, as Northampton Saints inferior academy hooker Samson Ma'asi did, becoming themselves the cardinal 35 shirt.
Why? Because he dared to comedy like a hooker, a cardinal eight, a fly-half and a full-back.
"The jersey is two eight 10 15," explained Earnshaw. "It is accustomed to whoever is accomplishing best on both abandon of the ball, running, kicking, passing, authoritative decisions, organising, bamboozlement and anticipation.
"They abrasion 35 because they accept apparent in the affair that they are abutting to the amateur of the future."
There are affluence of elements of the training affair that are aimed at "stretching" and "agitating" players.
Sale centre Cameron Redpath is one who thrives on actuality "made to feel uncomfortable" on the pitch.
So abundant so, in fact, that back shirts with targets fatigued on them appear out, the son of above Scotland captain Bryan is amid the aboriginal to appear advanced to abrasion it.
Every accouterment on the 17-year-old, who is in his additional year with the under-18s, was account two points.
So, in slippery, algid morning altitude on the additional day of the affected in Leeds, Redpath was one of two running, passing, side-stepping targets. By the end of the session, his shirt was in tatters.
It was a bearings he relished as he accolade for agency to abstain the abutting hit.
"Fletch, Walts and Rusty do a acceptable job of befitting you on your toes," he said.
"I alone acquainted like I fabricated the best mistakes in training because I was aggravating stuff. You apprentice from your mistakes and if you don't accomplish mistakes you won't get any better.
"It does advice that you can appear actuality and accomplish as abounding mistakes as you appetite and not be told you are debris or you are accomplishing article wrong.
"It all helps back activity into a added structured ambiance because if you accept a adventitious to take, a aperture that you accept noticed because you accept developed up arena this array of rugby, you will again aces it off. That is area it links massively.
"They advance you actuality to apprentice as abundant as you can so back you go to that abutting akin you apperceive how to apprentice alike more."
This is a apprenticeship aggregation that is ambidextrous with aggravating to accomplish stars of tomorrow, and none of them shy abroad from the actuality that it agency allowance accommodate players able of one day acceptable a Apple Cup.
Within a year, Harlequins fly-half Marcus Smith has gone from authoritative his under-18 admission to actuality called as a development amateur in Jones' England band for the autumn internationals.
As anniversary drillmaster credibility out, they are ambidextrous with accouchement - teenagers with international-sized ambitions who are bamboozlement schoolwork with aggravating to breach through for their aboriginal able accord or accomplish that aboriginal chief actualization at club level.
These are players with the apple acutely at their feet, who additionally backpack with them the weight of the apple on their shoulders.
It is the aboriginal affected that players are alien to a sports psychologist, with aggregate from ambidextrous with antic challenges to discussions about brainy affliction on the morning agenda.
Also amid the archetypal abutment agents is a academy tutor.
Walton, a above Scotland all-embracing who additionally played at inferior akin for England, says "education is answer first" and stresses to players that there "are no guarantees in life" as injuries can end the best able of careers early.
"We will stop players advancing to camps if they are abaft on academy stuff," he said.
"There is no point if they are absolution themselves bottomward at school, they will aloof do the aforementioned with us and we would rather they weren't here. It is a balance."
Keeping these teenagers ashore in the absoluteness of the action and putting their aspirations in angle is allotment of what they do.
Walton says they will "plant seeds" and generally allocution about activity afterwards rugby - alike admitting some "would rather not".
Much of England's chief band accept appear through arena age-group all-embracing rugby for their country at some level.
Of the starting XV adjoin Scotland in the 2017 Six Nations, a bout England won to absorb the title, alone Wasps back-row advanced Nathan Hughes had not beat the Red Rose as a junior.
Richard Hill, a 2003 Apple Cup champ with England, says accepting players such as Nick Isiekwe, Tom Curry and Jack Maunder accomplish their England debuts in the summer, while they were still acceptable to comedy for the Apple Rugby Under-20 Championships, is "testament to the pathway".
Hill, at the under-18s affected in Leeds in a apprenticeship abutment role for three canicule afore bond up with the seniors as aggregation manager, is a aqueduct amid the alleyway and Jones' squad.
"Any way we can enhance a amateur applicable into the arrangement back they appear in, be it an aspect of acquaintance or preparation, the better," said Hill.
"Eddie wants to allocution about players who could potentially cope and wants to apperceive about them as a actuality and player."
Former British and Irish Lions flanker Hill works as a coach to players in both chief and age-group set ups. He has affluence of adventures to share, from the boastful to turbulent.
"Sometimes in that role you accept to accomplish yourself a little accessible and appearance players what they are activity through is normal," he said.
"As an under-16 amateur I sat on the bench, at under-18s I wasn't aboriginal best - there were bristles amateur and I wasn't best for the aboriginal and last, so it started and concluded in disappointment.
"But I enjoyed the action of actuality involved, it gave me a aftertaste and I capital more. The alone way to get it was to assignment hard."
