Cueto; Strettle; Hipkiss; Farrell; Robinson; Wilkinson; Perry; Sheridan; Regan; Vickery; Shaw; Borthwick; Corry; Worsley; Easter; (replacements) Dallaglio; Moody; Chuter; Stevens; Richards; Flood; Tait.

After yesterday’s announcement of the England squad to play Wales this Saturday at Twickenham, I rang Brian Ashton to wish him and the boys luck. “Hopefully we shan’t need it” he replied with his characteristic down to earth bluntness. I didn’t want to detain him with a conversation - he has enough on his plate without listening to me blathering on – and so made the necessary encouraging noises and rang off.

Trying to be objective – and it’s not easy when you’ve been part of the squad and know some of the ‘insider’ concerns, issues & attitudes – there are a number of points to make.

These Rugby World Cup ‘warm up’ games (Wales on 4th August, France on 11th and 18th August) are not just warm-up games. People are playing for final squad places and (whatever anyone says) teams are playing for psychological advantage in what is one of the most demanding of physical contact sports.

Ashton worries me. This close to show time (the tournament) he still seems to be experimenting, trying people out. Take the team to face Wales: Cueto is not a full back; Hipkiss, making his debut, and Farrell are plainly in the ‘last chance saloon’, as is prop forward Sheridan; whilst all experience and common sense says that starting Worsley at 7 (open side flanker) is complete madness – every fibre of him is a 6. The Dallaglio issue needs sorting, one way or the other. At thirty-five, he has to prove whether he can last the full eighty minutes or not. Putting him on the bench here is therefore inexplicable – he should have been in the starting XV and effectively also playing for his place.

It’s vital to arrive at the Rugby World Cup with a squad that is match fit and capable of lasting right through a demanding two month tournament. As we stand, Ashton has seven (minimum) serious injury doubts. By now – indeed long ago - he should have known or decided which of these is going to come good, indeed he should know his final squad – barring late accidents & injuries of course – but he’s still selecting teams as if he doesn’t.

On a tangental note, this week the Harlequins unveiled their new kit. Hitherto Quins have been exempt from the Guinness Premiership decree that every team must have an away strip (on grounds that their colours are so distinctive they wouldn’t clash with anybody else’s) but, for the first time in the club’s 141 year history, for this season they’ve designed an away strip – the marketing department must be hoping to increase sales in the merchandising shop.



We all attended a press conference at which the new sponsors and the new home & away kits were unveiled. Stretts and Ugo [David Strettle and Ugo Monye] had spent six hours being body-painted in the new colours for the photographers. I caused a ripple of amusement by asking Deano [Quins’ Director of Rugby] from the back of the crowded room why he hadn’t chosen one of the forwards, and/or a more generously proportioned back like myself, for the body-painting experience. I felt obliged to tell him later that - despite the laughter & cheers they prompted at the time - I considered both his reply (“Not enough paint”) and the quip from centre threequarter Stuart Abbott (“They asked the painters for volunteers and got no takers”) neither particularly funny nor worthy of our great club.