"England are on the way back, there is no question of that," according to Rob Andrew. The Rugby Football Union's director of elite rugby talks to David Hands in The Times.
"Andrew argues that Martin Johnson, the England team manager, has established his core players for the assault on the 2011 World Cup, although even that can be queried. In this championship alone, he has dropped Jonny Wilkinson and Lewis Moody, who are part of his leadership group, Nick Easter’s form has been mixed and Steve Borthwick, his captain, remains unloved by the more vocal of the game’s followers.
"Where Andrew is on stronger ground is the context in which Johnson is working, the cranking sound of the conveyor belt designed to deliver quality players on a regular basis. “It’s a slow process,” Andrew said, but he pointed towards Ben Youngs, the replacement scrum half at the Stade de France tomorrow, and Courtney Lawes, the 21-year-old Northampton lock capped twice this season from the bench, as the first fruits of his labours.
"The system of financial rewards for clubs developing England-qualified players (EQP) is also under way. The rewards are not huge — some £300,000 was distributed in December to seven Guinness Premiership clubs who averaged 14 or more EQP — but Andrew insists that the RFU would like all 12 clubs to receive a share of what is, this season, a pot of about £1 million."
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