Part one of a Yahoo Sport EXCLUSIVE interview with Rugby World Cup winner Neil Back

In association with ASKRR (www.askrr.co), Yahoo Sport exclusively talks with former England and British and Irish Lions flanker, Neil Back MBE. After having recently released his second autobiography, ‘The Death of Rugby’, Neil talks eloquently and at length about who he thinks will win the rugby World Cup, the best player on the planet, which rules of rugby he’d change, and more.

1. Who is the greatest rugby player of all time and how do you rank alongside him?

People can get really bogged down in this question and I think it’s nigh on impossible to answer objectively. I’m told Willie John McBride was amazing, but all I’ve seen is the same clips as anyone else, so it’s tough to make a judgement. How can you compare eras?

In terms of those I played against or alongside, the first player that springs to mind is Martin Johnson. Regardless of the fact he’s a good friend, I genuinely believe he has to be part of this conversation.

But, of course, you can’t overlook Richie McCaw. He’s a 3-time World Player of the Year and now has the world record for caps. He’s been on the winning All Blacks side 124 times out of 142 caps to date – an awesome win-loss ratio - and has captained them a record 105 times.

As for me, well, I played against McCaw early in his career and I clearly taught him everything he knows… . . Seriously, though, it’s not for me to say how good I was. Rugby’s a team game and I just always felt honoured to play alongside some outstanding back rows. We focused on our combination work and on ensuring we had the right blend. We backed each other up and compensated for each other’s shortcomings.

2. Who is the best player on the planet right now?

Again, this is really subjective, so I’m going to have to put McCaw on the shortlist. At 34, some might argue his best years are behind him, but only a fool would write him off in the run-up to a World Cup. This will most likely be his fourth and last, but you’ve got to admire the guy.

His teammate Dan Carter always excites me, too, but it’s tough as you’re only as good as the guys around you. Sergio Parisse is clearly world-class, and who knows what he might have achieved as an All Black, for example.

I will say that England currently has a few young players who could go on to become greats of the game. Jonathan Joseph shows massive potential and I’m really excited to watch his progress. He made an impact when he first came on the scene, but the trick is to build on it. People will have had a look at him and maybe worked out certain aspects of his game. It’s how he handles that over the coming months and years that will define him as a player. I wish him the very best.

3. Who will win the Rugby World Cup and, if it’s not England, how far will they go?

This is the eighth World Cup and, for me, the most competitive to date. I honestly think more than a third of the teams can conceivably win it. England are one of them, but we’re in a group with Wales and Australia, who will also believe, as I do, that they can win it. It’s always unwise to discount the All Blacks or the Springboks, and Ireland are on an impressive run of form. France consistently turn up at the World Cup, so it’s anyone’s guess at this point. I’m relishing the prospect, to be honest.

If you’re after a dark horse, then look no further than Argentina. They smashed South Africa earlier this month and have an enormous pack and a great backline. The regularity of their games against the Southern Hemisphere teams has done them the world of good and I think, when push comes to shove, they can beat anyone on their day. I’m not a betting man and have no idea about the odds, but I reckon they’re worth a punt.

There’s been a lot of talk about England being in the supposed ‘Group of Death’, but I’d put us down as favourites to progress. Our Pool A games are spread out nicely, so there are no quick 4/5 day turnarounds and the order of matches could play into our hands. None will be easy, but I’d expect us to beat Fiji first off and hopefully gain some momentum with a victory over the Welsh before we take on the Aussies. By the time of the last game against Uruguay, up at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, we’ll know exactly what we need to do and perhaps be in a position to rest a few key players.

To win the World Cup you have to beat the best, so I don’t have much time for the idea that we must win the group to avoid the likes of New Zealand. If we’re runners-up, we’ll probably have to play Ireland in the semi-final anyway and, as we know, they’re extremely strong. No team has lost a World Cup game and then gone on to lift the trophy. I think that could easily change this time round, especially after looking at the Pool A contenders.

4. In terms of the rules of the game, is there anything you would change about rugby?

Personally, I’d award free kicks rather than penalties at scrums. For starters, a number of decisions have simply been wrong and gamesmanship is rife in the scrum. A change of this kind would, to my mind, encourage teams to scrummage honestly.

However, most importantly I think it would also add to the spectacle by speeding up the game and ridding us of a lot of delays. Teams would take more taps and it would be a lot more exciting for fans. I’d like to make a positive change to the dynamics of the game.

5. You’ve just published a new book called ‘The Death of Rugby’. Why did you chose that title?

The title reflects the real reason I wrote the book. Of course, it starts off from where my first one left off in 2001 and takes you through the incident dubbed ‘the Hand of Back‘ during the European Cup Final 2003, the run-up to Sydney, the World Cup win and the remainder of my playing days at Leicester Tigers, but then we move on to my coaching career at Leicester Tigers, Leeds Carnegie, Edinburgh Rugby.

The key passage is Chapter 11, which tells the story of my experience at The Rugby Football Club (2011) Ltd – that’s where the title comes from. That was a very emotional year and, suffice it to say, what happened there should never happen again. The actions of certain individuals named in the book had a negative effect on so many other people, who were told tall stories and led up the garden path. People weren’t paid, people were misled and facts have subsequently been misrepresented.

I wrote the book to tell the real story and, in a way, so I could sleep at night knowing I’d done something to hopefully try to bring closure to the people who were affected. The book’s dedicated to those people - the players, staff, supporters, the local community and businesses - who stood by the club in extraordinary circumstances.

I wanted to thank them for their unwavering professionalism during an extremely challenging period when they helped us deliver 31 wins out of 31, gaining automatic promotion and cup success, whilst laying solid foundations for the club to go on and deliver our shared vision, which we all know, all too painfully, didn’t materialise.

I hope that this book, in some way, will shine a light on exactly what happened to everyone and will bring some closure.

Notably the book includes contributions from Clive Woodward, Martin Johnson, Jonny Wilkinson, my back row buddies Lawrence Dallaglio and Richard Hill and also two members of the Rugby Lions management team, Andy Key and Glen Thurgood. I’d like to thank them all for their input.

6. Will you read the Amazon reviews of the book?

I might read a few, but I’m not too concerned. Alison and my son have read some and there are no bad ones yet. My greatest wish on that front is that it’s well-received from a literary point of view. It’s Dean Eldredge’s first book and he’s done an amazing job on it, so I hope he gets the recognition he rightly deserves.

Everything in the book is 100% true, so there is very little anybody could say. If someone had the audacity to challenge the truth behind it, then, frankly, they’d been the ones with questions to answer.

7. If you were in charge of the FA, would you appoint Sir Clive Woodward as England manager?

Without doubt I’d welcome Sir Clive’s input. As a manager he’d do things differently and untraditionally, but he would definitely make a positive difference to any business or sporting organisation. Football is both of those things and his involvement would be fantastic and good for the country as a whole.

His strength lies in his ability to build a team in which everybody buys into the vision. From the top of the enterprise right down to the very bottom, everyone knows their roles and responsibilities precisely and knows what contribution they need to make for the team to achieve its goals.

Part two is published tomorrow.

Order your copy of ‘The Death of Rugby’ on Amazon today, which features contributions from Sir Clive Woodward, Martin Johnson, Jonny Wilkinson, Lawrence Dallaglio and Richard Hill. Also find out more about booking Neil Back as an after dinner speaker at Champions UK plc.