Different priorities leave us poles apart

So endeth the `War of the Worlds', and where standeth the northern hemisphere now? Encouraged? They should be, after England's intelligent and heroic performance on Saturday. But they remain in danger of harbouring delusions either of grandeur or adequacy, for the fundamental flaws still apply.

The lessons in the aftermath of Saturday's Twickenham encounter are essentially two-fold and apply to the other `Four Nations' as much as England. On the one hand, there's the question of playing the modern game; on the other, adapting to it administratively.

The problem with performances and results such as England's on Saturday is that they paper over so many cracks. Ireland's wins over England in 1993 and 1994, upliftingly brilliant though they were, did much the same. Here we're talking about delusions of adequacy more than grandeur.

The reality is that in the 10 northern v southern hemisphere games this past month, the former drew two and lost eight despite being at home in all of them. They were outscored by 393 points to 142, and by 50 tries to 14.

Clive Woodward, England's coach, struck the perfect balance between optimism and levelheadedness after the 26-26 draw with New Zealand. "It's difficult to say it's a watershed. The structure of the game is wrong. I don't care what anybody says, in my opinion they are miles ahead of us in the way their game is structured and that was just a one-off performance," he said.

Despite their herculean revival in the last quarter, England were not able to live with the tempo of the game over 80 minutes as comfortably as the All Blacks, and Lawrence Dallaglio confirmed that base fitness levels were still not good enough.

"So to beat the drum and say we can win the World Cup is a fairly daft statement," added Woodward. "We can't, and I'll give you an example now. Their guys (All Blacks) go off for two-and-a-half months' rest, do proper training and then go back into the Super 12s.

"In international rugby in this country," said Woodward, and he could have been talking about any of the home unions, "we have no control over their fitness . . . Our guys are (playing) 12 months of the year now. There's no time to do proper fitness work."

Woodward cited a revealing example. "Neil Back says, not tongue in cheek, that the best thing that ever happened to him was the six-month ban because it gave him six months to really do some fitness work and to get ahead. I think there's a lesson in that."

But Woodward admitted that the horse has bolted. "That is the RFU's fault because we had our chance two years ago and we didn't do it. I'm not against foreign players. I'm not against clubs. I'm just making a fairly obvious statement. It's as simple as that."

Ditto the IRFU, who lost their chance in spades two years ago. But whereas the exodus of Irish players has damaged the domestic club game, the influx of foreigners has hit England's international team. In some respects, Ireland is better off and England's problem is greater.

Woodward's solution is to emulate Ireland and Scotland to some degree, by having a new, four-team elite divisional structure with which to compete on a quasi-Super 12 basis. But this would only add to the English/European fixture congestion, unless the European Cup was scrapped, or the Allied Dunbar Premiership halved.

As it is unlikely that there will be an agreed reduction in foreign players by English clubs - even if EU laws allowed it - it seems Woodward is just going to have to lump it.

However, in terms of ensuring less matches and a higher level of competition for leading players along southern-hemisphere lines, England's problem is as much an Irish and European problem.

As things stand, an English-based international should theoretically play 22 league games, six to 10 European Cup games, eight internationals and then another four to six international end-of-season tour games, with another half-dozen or more representative or club games thrown in. In other words, a season of 40-plus games - Martin Johnson played over 50 games last season.

An Irish-based international will play 11-13 games for his province, 13-15 league games for his club, seven internationals in the regular season, maybe a handful of cup games for his club and then four or so tour games in the summer. Again we're in the region of 40 games a season, and for the Lions there was scarcely a two-to-three week break. The Development tourists weren't much better off, and it showed.

By contrast, an All Black might play 11 to 13 Super 12 games, eight to 10 NPC games (and many of the recent tourists were rested for some or all of the NPC), up to nine games for the All Blacks and then four or so on an end-of-season tour. Here we're talking in the region of 30 or so games and, crucially, at a consistently higher level of intensity; and with an off-season of two months or more.

As for England's evolution on the pitch, Woodward puzzlingly maintained that their four-Test schedule over the last month was a "ridiculous idea". Yet it was far harder on New Zealand - the Tri-Nations is even more intense than this or the Five Nations, and the World Cup even more intense again.

In fact, this past month has been the making of this English team, and the fourth game was the proof of it. Ireland would have been a better team for the same programme. As a result, England are now a step ahead of the posse for the Five Nations. Their performance also proved, according to Woodward, that "it doesn't need a revolution to change the way England play. It needs very positive coaching and it needs players who are responsive to new ideas."

In that regard, the enduring English mantra under Woodward of "keep the ball in the hand" has been reinforced by his Kiwi assistant John Mitchell. Dealing out garlands generously (and showing that he is willing to take other coaches and ideas on board) Woodward also praised the former Great Britain and Sheffield rugby league coach Phil Larder for revolutionising his own and his team's approach to defence.

"For the first time ever really, I'm starting to think about defending," admitted Woodward, "because defending, in my coaching, was getting players in certain positions and trying to get organised. Now suddenly we've got this rugby league coach who's talking to us about body angles, he's talking about hitting in twos, he's talking about second-wave defence coming through and he's just brought a whole new thought process. The players love it."

Intriguing stuff, as rugby union continues to emulate rugby league. It must surely explain why England were able to make so many covering tackles after the All Blacks breached the gain line. Brian Ashton, noted league fan and believer in drawing on their expertise, will have taken note.