England team manager Martin Johnson says that it is “human nature” to push the boundaries towards outright cheating.

Johnson said the ‘Bloodgate’ scandal involving Harlequins and director of rugby Dean Richards, who told a player to fake a blood injury, was the final result of over-competitiveness.

Johnson told the Global Sport Summit in London: “How did we get there with the faking of the blood injury and Harlequins and Dean [Richards]?

“The good thing is that it has been dealt with and things have been put in to clean that area of the game up.

“You get to a situation where the law gets abused slightly and people get away with it and they do it a little bit more and a little bit more.

“The pressure is always there and that’s self-induced and people want to be competitive - ‘are my competitors doing it and getting away with it? Maybe we’ll push the boundaries that little bit more’.

“You have referees on the field for a reason, because people will try and push things further - that’s human nature.”

Johnson does not believe that the financial rewards of sporting success are a greater incentive to cheat.

He added: “We all live in a competitive world and whether money is involved or not, it’s the will to win.

“Did things happen like that when rugby was amateur? Of course it did.”(source)