England's Six Nations squad

The problem with England getting to the world cup final, was that it misled people in to believing that selecting certain players and playing a certain way had been a success. The one dimensional attitude England showed in France last October was supposedly only going to be a one-off. It was a back to basics side, to get us far enough in the competition to avoid embarrassment, following the turmoil of the previous 3 and a half years. Ashton did what he could in the time he had, and the RFU should have said to him afterwards, "Well done Brian, you did what you could in the time available. Here is a new 4 year contract to the end of the next world cup. Get this team playing good rugby and winning." Instead, he has a one year rolling contract, so for the sake of his career, it is win now or lose your job in 12 months. Ashton picks a squad which he hopes will give him a win, but doesn't look towards the future enough, or ironically, at the teams that are winning at the moment.

There are three English teams in the Heineken Cup quarter finals (the group stages concluded this weekend). They are Saracens, London Irish and Gloucester, in that order as seeds one, two and three. These three teams represent four players in Ashton's 32 man England squad. Thirteen players come from Leicester and Wasps, and a further four from Harlequins and Bristol, all four teams which failed to progress from the group stages to the quarter finals of the Heineken Cup. A further 11 players came from clubs who play in the European Challenge Cup, the second tier European rugby cub. It is a fairly obvious statement to say that the form sides progress from the Heineken Cup pool stages. Why are the English players these teams have not in the England squad? If they are the form players, why are they not performing for England?

Wasps are 8th in the Guinness Premiership, and they provide a quarter of England's squad for the Six Nations. The Wasps pack, which provides six players to the England squad, got destroyed by the Munster pack on Saturday, which provides a large contingent of the Irish pack. Good omens? The top two sides in the Premiership provide only 6 players to the squad and the fourth place side provides none.

Mark Regan is 35, or thereabouts now. He will be 39 come the next world cup. Will he still be playing then, at anywhere near international standard? Simon Shaw is 34 now, so will be 38 at the next world cup. Andy Gomarsall will be 34 this year. Will he still be around in four years time? Why not pick for the future? There is no better time than now. Give the new players the biggest opportunity to gain the most experience they can before the next world cup. I am not doubting that Regan, Shaw and Gomarsall will give their all, I am sure they will, but for the sake of the future of English rugby, we need to be blooding new and upcoming internationals so that they get as much exposure to international rugby as is possible.

There is no point arguing about players being away at the world cup, tough Heineken Cup groups, injuries, suspensions, blaming the ref (Dallaglio was very subtle in his moan on Saturday). This is not about that. This is about form players and form teams. This is about giving players experience, playing players so that they can do they job in four years time, playing players who have a winning habit with them at the moment. I don't need to name players, everyone will have their own choices. I don't want to pick the squad, but I want the coaching team to pick a squad that looks forward. But a negative board offering a one year contract to a coach, who wants to keep his job, will pick for the here and now. Woodward was given years to succeed. We need to get back to that position and pick an elite squad to take us through the next four, and for some of them, eight years.

Come on England! BE POSITIVE!!!!!