Leicester boss Richard Cockerill has not held back in his attack on Stuart Lancaster after the England coach revealed Toby Flood may miss the Aviva Premiership final.
With international coaches already putting into action plans which aim to have their squads in optimum shape come the 2015 World Cup in England, now is the time to look at some of those players who could be household names in three years time...
This season Gloucester's young owner Ryan Walkinshaw has thrown his support behind Bryan Redpath giving him license to go out and bring the very best to Kingsholm.
It is an inevitable truth that every new English fly half will ultimately be compared to Jonny Wilkinson in one way or another and this was no different with the emergence of Owen Farrell on the international scene.
The Rugby Union Fans Six Nations team of the tournament, this is based on player performance throughout the competition and not on the talent levels of the individual player;
The England v Ireland Legends Game will take place at The Twickenham Stoop on Friday 16 March 2012, KO 7:45, in support of the Stuart Mangan Memorial Cup.
Before the world cup last year many England fans and pundits, including myself, were touting Ben Youngs and Toby Flood as the best half back pairing England had to offer.
For as long as I can remember Rugby has been considered to be a game played by gentleman. However as the modern world continues to be driven by greed and corruption can we really expect the young players of today to behave in a gentlemanly manner when it comes to contract negotiations and transfer talks?