Sometimes you watch a match between two evenly-matched teams, playing with passion, wit and invention, and conclude neither side deserves to lose.

When England played Scotland for the Calcutta Cup at Murrayfield last Saturday, neither side deserved to win.

To be honest, neither side deserved to score a try, and neither side looked capable of scoring one. Late on, England managed a few close-quarter, and interminably slow forward rumbles, while Scotland came closest when a couple of penalties from the previously infallible Dan Parks bounced back off the post and into the path of the Scottish chasers.

Such was the paucity of excitement on offer that I even wondered if those two kicks were deliberate. And, if so, how soon before England hire yet another backroom guru , hand him a lap-top and send him off to practice rebounds with Jonny Wilkinson?

Did the coaching staff on either side ask the players to sort it out for themselves?

Perhaps they asked their charges to put their heads together, and were surprised, after Monye and Wilkinson, of England, and Brown and Kellock, of Scotland, all suffered cranial injuries, to be taken so literally.

It's hard to escape the conclusion that when it comes to the relationship between the coaches and the coached, England – and to a lesser extent Scotland and Wales – who both have English-reared coaches in key positions – have got it wrong.

Away from the Murrayfield kick-fest, Wales also failed to cross the whitewash in Dublin, which meant that not one British player managed to score a try in over 180 minutes of Six Nations rugby on Saturday.

Perhaps the time spent in camp is becoming counter-productive? It's certainly easy to argue that since England brokered a deal giving the national coaching staff unprecedented access to the leading players, the latter have played with no obvious game plan, no obvious cohesion and no obvious nous.

Perhaps coaches are guilty of trying to cram too much knowledge into the heads of their charges and, in so doing, are suppressing natural instinct, reactive flair and a willingness to solve problems by themselves?

Sport has an infinite capacity for serving up the unexpected. That's what makes it so fascinating, exciting and entertaining.

Rugby, to my mind, has always been the best of sports because of the enormous variety of questions it asks of its exponents; questions as much of the ability to think clearly under pressure, as of skill, power, strength, speed, and courage. The split-second decisions it requires players to make are infinite and endlessly variable. There isn't a play-book big enough to cover all the alternatives.

But too many coaches seem to believe there is such a book or, if there isn't, that they can create one. And they seem to believe that if they can create one, their players can memorize it. That, presumably, is why they are always complaining that they never have enough time. It ignores the fact that the only match situations that they can be certain will occur are the kick-offs that start each half and the whistles that end them.

Everything else, in terms of the individuals, playing surfaces, match situations and referees involved, poses its own instantaneous and unique problems and can only be solved in its own instantaneous and unique way.

The bottom line is that coaches can't solve every problem that occurs on the field. Only the players can do that. It seems to me that both they and their coaches need a better understanding of their responsibilities. The coaches have the responsibility to get the right team in the right shape to the right place at the right time. Then they have a responsibility to let go. The players take responsibility for what happens next and must reject utterly any ideas that they are operating under orders.

Maybe, it will only be when the coaches and the coached get their relationship right that England will produce the rugby of which they assure us they are capable.

Clive Woodward famously trusted his players to make the right decision. Martin Johnson's strength as a captain was to tear up the script and make instantaneous changes to the game-plan. England became world champions because the players took responsibility when they needed to.

Benjamin Franklin got it right when he said there was no freedom without responsibility.

If England took that on board we might get something worth watching.