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<blockquote data-quote="ncurd" data-source="post: 710139" data-attributes="member: 72205">Sorry going to have to disagree there, I don&#039;t think many people would argue in 2003 (and with one loss to France in 2002) that England were the best team in world rugby.Overall yup the all blacks dominate but they are not the best year on year....at the moment yes clearly the best.---Updated---Sorry just seen earlier post fair enough it&#039;s two losses I couldn&#039;t find for some reason the warm up games.As to England&#039;s defense as noted &#039;03 was the peak of that teams performance that was part of 4+year plan culminating in 2002-2003 arguably we peaked in the middle of that period (&#039;02 autumn internationals, &#039;03 6nations) and were already on the wane by the RWC.&nbsp; The following 6 nations was during the same NH season so no wonder the players that stayed on performed less well.As to the team as whole 4 players who started in &#039;03 final started in &#039;07 final, 1 player who started on the bench in &#039;03 started in &#039;07 and another the other way around.&nbsp; That&#039;s 26% the same team over a 4 year period.&nbsp; Contrast that with New Zealand this year and you&#039;ll probably find the transition has been less dramatic.So yeah England were one of the best sides in the world culminating in world cup win I don&#039;t think it lessens the RWC because they fell apart afterwards.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="ncurd, post: 710139, member: 72205"] Sorry going to have to disagree there, I don't think many people would argue in 2003 (and with one loss to France in 2002) that England were the best team in world rugby. Overall yup the all blacks dominate but they are not the best year on year....at the moment yes clearly the best. ---Updated--- Sorry just seen earlier post fair enough it's two losses I couldn't find for some reason the warm up games. As to England's defense as noted '03 was the peak of that teams performance that was part of 4+year plan culminating in 2002-2003 arguably we peaked in the middle of that period ('02 autumn internationals, '03 6nations) and were already on the wane by the RWC. The following 6 nations was during the same NH season so no wonder the players that stayed on performed less well. As to the team as whole 4 players who started in '03 final started in '07 final, 1 player who started on the bench in '03 started in '07 and another the other way around. That's 26% the same team over a 4 year period. Contrast that with New Zealand this year and you'll probably find the transition has been less dramatic. So yeah England were one of the best sides in the world culminating in world cup win I don't think it lessens the RWC because they fell apart afterwards. [/QUOTE]

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