Suddenly the rugby is better and universal opposition has turned to grudging acceptance. By far the greater problem is the zero-tolerance approach applied to players who lose their feet at the breakdown.

Apply this to its logical conclusion and there would be a penalty every single time anyone is tackled, and sometimes in the season’s first month it has felt exactly that way. “It’s not great to watch and not great to play in,” said Leicester’s England fly-half Toby Flood, speaking what had seemed a universal truth after Ian McGeechan had apologised for how he was asking his champion Wasps to play.

But lo and behold, change – for once for the better – is in the air. 

“The ELVs put us under a lot of pressure at different times, given the interpretation of the officials,” said Bath coach Steve Meehan. 

“But after spending the best part of 18 months trying to develop an attacking brand of rugby, we don’t want to go into our shells. It would put us in reverse. Each club and each coach and his players have to make up their own minds and use whatever tactics they feel will benefit them. It might depend on the opposition, whether you are home or away, and the make-up of your own team. But with an attacking mind-set, who knows what is possible?”

Bath are a prime example, carrying on their good work by winning at Wasps this week. Last weekend, Bath, led by captain Michael Lipman, played beautifully to thrash Worcester only a week after a dire, ELV-fixated win at London Irish, a sorry affair which seems to have persuaded both sides to change their ways. The Irish then let rip in the second half of their game at Harlequins, another team for whom the ELVs have been a problem to overcome, not complain about. So it is all in the mind.