Shaun Edwards outlines why bin bags are key to play-off victory

It’s a pleasure to join Sportsmail’s team of rugby columnists.

Living out in France, where there’s a home World Cup next year, hopefully I can offer some insight about how the people out here are getting ready for the big occasion.

It’s going to be a fascinating period for rugby.

When I’m back in London I always pick up the paper to read what Sir Clive Woodward, Danny Cipriani and Mike Brown have to say — but it’s MailOnline when I’m in Perpignan. Sir Clive invited me into camp for some unforgettable coaching experiences with England 18 years ago and I still have the tactics pamphlet he gave me.

I coached Danny at Wasps and he’s still a very good family friend and I have huge respect for Mike as he’s one of the most competitive players in the history of rugby.

I look forward to sharing my opinions alongside them.   

I love the Premiership play-offs. Coming from rugby league, it was all about the big Grand Final days.

When I won the first Premiership final with Wasps in 2003 — beating a fantastic Gloucester team — people were almost critical of us because we hadn’t finished first in the league.

The secret was all in the timing. Warren Gatland and I were used to play-offs, but it was completely new to English rugby union then.

We realised that it was all about peaking at the end of the season. That means making sacrifices in the earlier stages. Gats would always give players 10 days off during the season and we would manage loads in training.

The great Australian rugby league coach Wayne Bennett helped us a lot. I remember him telling me the team that would win the Grand Final would normally make their move six weeks before.

He’d had so much success that we worked on that principle. Six weeks before the final, we’d train