In this brave new world, no one is beyond the law

This season promises to be bigger and shinier but the Experimental Law Variations will test the abilities of even the best coaches in the land.

Cipriani had been expected to miss the first three months of the season at the very minimum (Getty Images)

If it ain't broke, why break it? The introduction of the Experimental Law Variations will make life a lot more interesting, for players, referees and spectators, when the Guinness Premiership starts next weekend. Nobody is quite sure how it will pan out, but most of the leading coaches in Britain fear the worst.

Ian McGeechan, who guided Wasps to the championship last season with a beautifully timed run, is wearing two caps in the next 12 months, one bearing a golden wasp, the other a lion. As the coach of the Lions tour to South Africa next year he has spent a bit of time watching the Tri-Nations in the southern hemisphere, where the new laws have been embedded, and he does not sound too impressed.

After watching the Springboks play the All Blacks, he said: "There was no rugby. I was in a corner with a load of South African supporters and it became like a party. We weren't interested in the rugby, we had conversations about other things."

Like how are the Lions going to cope in the Republic next year? "The breakdown is a forgotten area and it's a mess," McGeechan, who is nothing if not a traditionalist, said. "The stupid thing is, the current law has all the answers if we refereed it. If the players arrive on their feet, making it a contest for the ball so you are driving players off it, fine.

"You don't want everybody off their feet, going up the side, everywhere. I wouldn't want to change the maul much. The biggest impact has been at the line-out. It's become a lottery."

Eddie Jones, the former coach of Australia who has signed a three-year contract as the head man at Saracens, dismissed the ELVs in his own inimitable way. "We have a set of laws picked out of a cornflakes packet," he said. The International Rugby Board might be choking over their breakfast at that comment.

Funnily enough, the Wallabies, under their new coach, Robbie Deans, seem to be adapting quite well to the new approach. On the other hand, Rob Andrew says it will "destroy the game as we know it". Let's wait and see.

Apart from adapting to a different approach – you might have thought he would welcome a breath of fresh air after losing the World Cup final to a structured England in Sydney five years ago – Jones has other things on his mind, like challenging Wasps for every inch of ground. "I want to unlock the potential of Saracens," he said. "We want to be the club of north London and become the club of England and Europe." If that was the case, and it's a very big if, there has been talk of moving from Vicarage Road in Watford to the new Olympic Stadium, but let's not keep up with the Jones for now.

Next Saturday, in a double- header at Twickenham, Wasps play London Irish and Saracens take on Harlequins. Quins, in the luxurious position of being the only London club to play anywhere near the capital, have huge ambitions of their own.

In the good old days, when players received only a free beer for their endeavours, the Quins often trooped from the Stoop to Twickenham to play host to somebody like Cardiff, and the stadium was still deserted. Quins will return there on 27 December to play Leicester, and they hope to pull in 50,000 spectators.

"This is an ambitious project for us but if we can bring it off it will be a big statement about Quins and another step for the sport at club level," Mark Evans, the club's chief executive, said. "For us to seriously think about drawing 50,000 people to a club game, well we're pinching ourselves. But we feel there is a gap in provision for sports lovers in the capital around Christmas time, and if this is successful we'll look to make it an annual event."

First they had better concentrate on beating Leicester, the most ambitious and ruthless club in the land. If their new South African coach, Heyneke Meyer, does not deliver silverware he will be on his way back to Jo'burg.

Back at Wasps, McGeechan has a huge task ahead in keeping the club at the top of the pile. He is without the towering inferno, otherwise known as Lawrence Dallaglio, and the captaincy goes to the grizzled old Frenchman Raphaël Ibanez. "If I'd given the honour to a younger player this year we'd have a captain missing for half the Premiership season," said McGeechan.

"That wouldn't be fair on a young player who has England ambitions. Raphael is there all the time, and when you're losing somebody of the stature of Lawrence you need a hand on the tiller every day of the week."

The encouraging news for Wasps, not to mention England and the Lions, is that Danny Cipriani, arguably the most intuitive No 10 to appear on the English scene since Richard Sharp, is making a good recovery from his shattering ankle injury.

"Danny is running at between 60 and 70 per cent and is ahead of schedule," said McGeechan. "I have seen talented players go by the wayside because they don't have the right attitude. His attitude has been superb and that's one reason he's ahead of schedule." Cipriani, who has been working with Margot Wells in an "integrated programme" with England, is expected to be playing before Christmas.

It will not be lost on McGeechan that for all the Premiership hype – everything is bigger and shinier and even the Guinness tastes better – over the water in the little Magners League, Munster won the Heineken Cup and the Ospreys the EDF Energy Cup, while Wales took the Six Nations. It doesn't pay to get too big for your boots.