Having experienced such a thrilling Autumn Series, the dénouement was inevitably a little underwhelming, with the Wallabies looking jaded but returning home with definite credit in the bank. Schmidt’s project was to make the Lions tour competitive as well as commercial and he may well achieve this, great to see someone allowing the talking to take place on the field and not in the media like his predecessor. Unusually the B&I Lions may sport a Celtic dominance although England will have a say in that as there is no shortage of talent in their ranks.

I hold to the thesis that Ireland has a rebuild to do and that takes time even with their renowned forward planning. Financially strapped, like almost every other Union globally, they will have their work cut out. Hence the opening match against England in Dublin is massive for both teams. I remember England arriving in Dublin in 2017 with double grand slam pretensions, and I was there, wearing my cufflinks from our 1991/92 double campaign in anticipation and as a good luck charm. In the aftermath of a significant defeat if not on the scoreboard my old mate Mick Dawson from Leinster winked at me and consoled with the fact that the cufflinks now had an extra special rarity value! They still have.

Meantime, the Premiership returned with a bang-ish. Bristol spoiled Jo Marler’s farewell party, but it seemed as if the Quins thought it was a game of touch rugby. The Bears have sharp claws when it comes to try-scoring, but it was a genuine walk in the park with tackling optional. Bristol, table-topping, have how many players in the England squad?!

Elsewhere, Leicester also forgot to bring their tackling computer chip with them, and with a number of Internationals in their ranks that was an embarrassment.

With a salary spend probably 50% less than Saracens, Newcastle sprung a surprise which goes to show that money isn’t everything in sport – ask Man City.

With the strongest squad in the league, Bath scrapped their way past a Chiefs team who seemingly took comfort in a losing bonus point to leave them bottom and at risk of a play off. How times have changed and with a bargain basement squad it is likely that they and Newcastle prop up the table, probably for the season.  All the tries were from rolling mauls, a little underwhelming but Bath will not care.

As for the Northampton Saints reverse at home to a rejuvenated Gloucester, I suspect that their renowned backline is suffering a hangover of sorts after the November Internationals and already they are well out of the running for a defence of their league title. Come back Courtney all is forgiven! 

Relating all this to England – is this league really providing quality International players (yes), are our players fit enough (question by Borthwick) and are we making the right selections? I think I know one thing – when leading New Zealand into the critical part of the game, our two half backs were replaced. Ford’s missed tackle, missed kick and missed drop goal are facts. Randall was off the pace, understandably. Into the white-hot environment of such a contest, it can be tough and this was surely a self-inflicted wound. Thinking correctly under pressure (TCUP) into the closing minutes of matches was the mantra of Clive Woodward, and of winning teams (Springboks and Ireland of recent years). It was also borne out of adversity and blown grand slam chances. You learn by experience as we did in the ‘grudge match’ of 1990 against Scotland and followed up with two consecutive grand slams. But they were nothing to do with curious selectorial decisions. The upcoming Six Nations will provide some answers.

There are some telling moments off the field right now. In Wales, there is simply not enough money at regional or International level and there is only so much you can do with limited resource, this will be a long and painful road to recovery. England has all the resources as usual, but the allocation of them is as mystifying as it is indefensible, especially given recent revelations of gravy train activities. The grav(i)eyard is full of indispensable administrators.

The game is spending beyond its means, whether for an average player, a strength and conditioning coach or for a comms executive, or any other executive for that matter. Until this is put right, the ‘cost-plus’ attitude of the game will ensure that the incoming World Rugby executives (what, more of them?) will have their hands full to stop a day of reckoning. Is this sport a viable currency or more likely junk bond status. The solution will rest in human hands and knowledgeable decision-making.

Hallers