One of the great things about rugby union is the way players engage with the fans in a way that still seems alien to most footballers.

While football clubs from Newcastle to Swindon are placing restrictions on who gets access for interviews and other coverage, so far rugby has remained open.

It was around 15 years ago that then Harlequins chief executive Mark Evans threw open the lines of communication to the press in a bid to increase the coverage of the club.

It is no coincidence attendances at the Twickenham Stoop have gone up in their thousands since then.

As well as speaking eloquently to the media, players such as Chris Robshaw, Danny Care, Mike Brown and Joe Marler are visible in many other ways during the course of the season, whether it is charity work and public appearances or commercial tie-ups and PR gimmicks.

It makes the RFU’s draconian restrictions on players during this year’s World Cup all the more unusual.

This is the sport’s biggest showpiece on these shores since 1999 and yet players – apparently on the say-so of head coach Stuart Lancaster – are to be prevented from writing newspaper columns or making video diaries.

The players have also been issued with guidelines about what they should or should not say on Twitter and you can understand Lancaster’s reticence.

His best laid plans keep being disrupted by off-field shenanigans, with Manu Tuiliagi and Dylan Hartley already axed for their misbehaviour.

Lancaster wants his players to concentrate on the task in hand, but surely a bit of media work on the side is preferable to an even greater danger that comes from being cooped up in a World Cup camp – boredom.

England’s last World Cup campaign featured scandals ranging from dwarf-tossing to the kind of things that can go wrong if players have too much time on their hands.

The 2015 tournament is a great opportunity for England’s players to express their personality both on and off the pitch.