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London - England's players will have their access to mobile phones limited in the build-up to the 2019 Rugby World Cup after hiring a visual awareness coach.
Dr Sherylle Calder has joined head coach Eddie Jones's back-room staff as a consultant in a bid to give them an edge in preparations for the tournament in Japan.
She believes the use of mobile phones and tablets inhibits mental awareness and has imposed a crackdown on the use of electronic devices, beginning on Tuesday.
"In the modern world the ability of players to have good awareness is deteriorating by the nature of mobile phones," Calder said in comments published by British newspapers.
"When you look at your phone you are losing awareness because you're in the screen all the time. There are no eye movements happening - everything is pretty static.
"I'm not going to give too many secrets away because we want to share it with the English players, but there are definitely principles that we want them to follow."
Calder has joined England's pre-Six Nations training camp in Vilamoura, Portugal, and will initially spend time working with the wings and fullbacks.
