While Johnson was explaining that the action was a matter of principle sup-ported

While Johnson was explaining that the action was a matter of principle, sup-ported by the entire squad in a secret ballot, Woodward was leaning on a big black Mercedes. It belonged to Dawson.Woodward would spend the rest of the day ringing the players to “talk some sense into them” In the event, he failed to contact half of them. That night he and the squad attended a charity dinner at the Cafe Royal for Alastair Hignell, a rugby journalist and a former player who has multiple sclerosis It was a suitable occasion to reflect on a broader picture. The players signed and auctioned England jerseys donated by the RFU.

They did not turn them inside out.Among the 720 guests there was only one topic of conversation. “It’s an absolute disgrace,” Lord MacLaurin, the chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, said “The RFU also has to look after the grass roots. Market forces dictate what a sport can pay,” revealing that an international cricketer receives £250,000-£300,000.While Nick Keller, an agent for eight of the younger players in the squad, said he had advised them to return to duty, Johnson spent most of the evening talking to Baron on the phone and a face-saving agreement was hatched with Peter Wheeler, Johnson’s boss at Leicester, acting as middleman.”One day the truth will come out,” Dallaglio said, “but I’m not going to get as emotional about it as some.” This could only be a reference to Woodward, who had been particularly hurt by Dallaglio’s failure to confide in him. Last year, when Dallaglio was embroiled in an alleged drugs and sex scandal, Woodward defended him to the hilt.The following morning the players returned to Pennyhill Park. The strike, which lasted 34 hours, was over, and a four-year deal signed. The RFU said the mutineers had agreed to what was on the table in the first place; Johnson and Co said the split between the match fees and win bonuses was closer to two thirds and a third. “On Monday night we didn’t have an agreement, on Wednesday morning we did,” Johnson said.They agreed to disagree, the RFU claiming the players never understood the value of the package “The whole thing has been a waste of time,” Woodward said.

“I don’t think people should use the England shirt to get what they want – and they haven’t.” Johnson said: “Both sides have moved We are not naïve and stupid. I don’t feel we’ve let Clive down.”On Thursday morning Woodward sat next to Johnson and his views were substantially different from Tuesday morning when he sat next to Baron. “The Union must take a large amount of the responsibility,” he said. “It’s unacceptable that things should have been allowed to get as far as they did. I still disagree with the action taken by the players, but my respect for them is not diminished What is that programme called? There was no weakest link.

Even the kids didn’t budge.”I hope it hasn’t affected my relationship with the team I’m in charge and you have to front up I am the RFU This was a one-off. There will be no more talk of this ever again.”Both sides were desperate to win the PR battle and neither had a clue how to. They made intellectual property rights sound like a sick joke. You do not win public sympathy by staging a strike at a five-star hotel (room £165 plus VAT, without breakfast) which should be renamed Penny-pinching Park.