You praised the displays of Will Genia and Quade Cooper, the Australia 21-year-olds, saying their development showed up England’s failure to show more faith in youth. But is that kind of talent available to Martin Johnson?
Yes. You need only to look at the glut of exciting young scrum-halves emerging in the Guinness Premiership, in particular, Ben Youngs of Leicester, Wasps’ Joe Simpson, Dave Lewis of Gloucester and Newcastle’s Mickey Young.
They could be playing international rugby in 12 months’ time, while Simpson is ready for a place in the squad at least. Were they Australian, they would already be in the system but England will not take that risk.
In a sense, Australia are forced to gamble because the pool of talent available to