Some very interesting points raised here about England and our 'success' and our relative strength as a nation.
To start with, I think you'd have to say that there are advantages and disadvantages associated with having a large player base; it means we always have an alternative to blooding a rookie. If Corbisiero, Marler and Vunipola are unfit, we still have a options. If Tuilagi is out, we don't have to throw in Daly a bit too soon, because there's a boring old tomkins, or historically there's a jamie noon; In contrast Wales have just blooded Cory Allen and are about to blood Amos. It means we can count on more consistent performances over time and unlikely to experience the extremities. Whilst we avoid wooden spoons, we don't discover the next big thing. It also means we rarely get the most out of a player because we tend to '**** and chuck'. Would Donncha O'Callaghan have achieved 94 caps if he was English? No, though that's not because England have always had better options than him, but we've always had another potential option. This goes back to what I think about 'world class' players, and how imo they are made and not born. We convert fewer world class players because we always have a safer option.
But this thing about world class players, well I'm still torn over using it, and can't quite work out whether we should use it more freely with players or not use it at all. England don't have any players on the level of, say, Kieran Reid, Will Genia, Bryan Habana, David Pocock, Julian Savea, Carter, Mccaw, Louw, Brussow...but notice that all the examples I cite are southern hemipshere; I do feel that if those types of players are the bench mark, we in the north have pretty much none at all of that level, and therefore if that is the bench-mark for world class we are using, and it's what most people seem to use, then I'm not ashmed at all to report that Engand have no world class players because overally I don't think there's many in the northern hemisphere at all.
However, the other point I'd make as well as world class players being made by being tested at the highest level, is that your opinions can change when players maintain a high level of form over time, and that's when you start to designate players as world class. If Mike Brown is still playing the way he is now come the six nations, I believe people will begin to use different terminology to describe him. I'm experiencing that rare thing with him where I can feel my opinion of him changing and growing. If Joe Launchbury is still playing at this level every single game when he has another 12 caps to his name, I think the tag 'world class' might start to be used. In many ways the talking point with England is why so few players have been able to stay in the form that they have periodically employed. Actually I think Chris Robshaw deserves more credit than he gets for the sheer consistecy of high performances. The tag world class has never been used for him, whereas it has with Warburton - why? I frankly have no idea. Especially as Warburton has had varying levels of effectiveness in his international career so far, and this is what would make me hesitate about using the 'world class' tag with him.
But anyway, as I said before I think world class layers are made as they are capped and we realise they can make the step up - and I think England have lots of talent waiting to make that step up. It seems quite fashionable to be down on the way we evaluate where we are but I'm excited about the future. I just think that once you've added a proper attacking distributing fly-half such as Burns into the equation, with twelvetrees - who I think can be as good/as effective as Jean de Villiers - stick Tuilagi back in, add Wade and Jonny May and an in-form Mike Brown at 15 or Elliott Daly, and all of a sudden I think you're looking at a potentially class outfit, many of those players will one day be considered world class. But make no mistake, we simply cannot continue to squander/ignore backline talent in favour of known-quantities such as Chris Ashton.
And I already think we have an exciting pack. I swear that Lawes and Launchbury have both significantly improved as carriers over last year, and with the addition of the Vunipolas and Morgan we have some real options in that department. Whilst I do think Tom Wood and Chris Robshaw are an underrated combo, I'd still agree that the missing puzzle piece is bringing a proper 7 in to bring the best out of Robshaw who can move back at 6.
