Can't say fairer than that mate.
What I can definitely say is that in the Northern Hemisphere we should all have more robust estimations of are players. With England, more so than any other team perhaps, we hate on a player one week and lavish praise the next - although this is often a function of how strangely inconsistent our players can be. But yes, we describe a player as top class one week and a crapper the next. Its like a sand castle which comes tumbling down. Its somewhat true of Wales as well. I think this stems from the fact that its quite hard to know a players limits unless they clearly, week in week out, perform way over and above the level required. Most don't. So I'd say there's half a dozen England players in the current 23 who are still 'jury's out'.
I think one of Irelands current strengths is knowing to what degree you rate your players and having faith in them. This said, it'd be interesting to see what happens if you ever lose two in a row under Schmidt.
By the way, the criticism of Lancaster I'd say is more about selection; I think he's a good coach, although jury's also out to what extent he does actually coach as opposed to just being a 'team manager' - as discussed on other threads.
