Gleeson out to thwart fellow ex-RL man Edwards

England's rugby union rivalry with France is one which stretches across 22 miles of sea and 116 years of history, but the latest chapter in Paris on Saturday night could rest on the off-field clash between two former rugby league players from Wigan.

On the English side is Martin Gleeson, the coach appointed to shape the national team's attack last August as part of head coach Eddie Jones' reboot, up against the man regarded as the 15-a-side code's foremost defensive guru in Shaun Edwards.

It was conversations with his fellow Wiganer during his time on the staff at Betfred Super League side Salford Red Devils which first piqued Gleeson's interest in crossing codes, which he did ahead of the 2019/20 season by moving to Wasps.

The 41-year-old quickly came to be regarded as one of the brightest offensive minds in the Gallagher Premiership which led to him joining the England set-up following Simon Amor's departure, but now faces arguably his stiffest test so far with a question which has flummoxed opposition coaches for over two decades: How do you unlock an Edwards defence?

"He's kind of transformed them, hasn't he?" Gleeson said of the work Edwards has done with a France team on the verge of clinching a first Six Nations title for 12 years.

"It's the simplicity in his message that if he gets the buy-in from the lads, the lads respect him, and they'll go to the trenches for him. I think that's his appeal as a coach and it doesn't matter where he goes, he seems to have success, so I've got nothing but the utmost respect from him.

"It's very notoriously hard to break his defence down, but we've got a few things in place we're looking at trying to expose that. We feel there are a couple of chinks in the armour and a mixture