A trying time for the arrogant English as they fall from grace

just a few months, it is hard to take in.

I watched the English beat the All Blacks at Twickenham in November,

and a rousing and well deserved victory it was.

New Zealand did miss their goal-kicker Matthew Cooper and were quite

bemused by the home tactics of kicking the ball long and inviting the

visitors to do something with it.

Rob Andrew won the battle of tactics that day and Dean Richards had

stoked the fires in the English pack as only he can. It was a display of

which all could be justifiably proud. What it was not was an automatic

assurance of Five Nations' Championship success.

Yet it was heralded as such. England, we were told, were different

class to the rest of us.

On the BBC's Sports Review of 1993 the rugby side, despite having lost

to both Wales and Ireland in the previous 12 months, were quite

cynically and disgracefully named as team of the year. Eat your hearts

out, Man U.

And Will Carling and co. began to believe their own publicity. Manager

Geoff Cooke was even tempted to speculate that England might have to

turn their backs on the Five Nations and seek greater challenges

elsewhere.

The English authorities suggested the television fees from

international encounters should, in future, be heavily loaded in their

favour. Arrogance often comes before deflation.

A very fortunate single-point win at Murrayfield was glossed over --

Scotland had been offside most of the time and were doing naughties at

the lineout, so no wonder the brave boys in white could not score a try.

The worst whinger after the Calcutta Cup game was the aforementioned

Mr Andrew in a newspaper column.

In my opinion, no current international player should be writing for

the press. Their comments, usually ghosted, are either offensive or

banal.

Anyway, England would splatter the Irish and look superb in the

process.

En route to Cardiff I encountered a well-known English scribe. ''Not

going to Twickenham?'' I enquired. ''No point,'' came the reply. ''I

want to see a contest, not a walkover.'' And they wonder why they are

not liked.

The second biggest cheer of the day at the Arms Park was when the news

of the Irish triumph was announced. There was still no English try to

report.

Earlier this week I was talking, about something else in fact, to

former Scotland captain Colin Deans. This is a man with 52 caps, a

British Lion, a Hawick legend. The events of the season so far were

touched upon and he suddenly let fly.

''England are going fundamentally wrong,'' he declared. ''If the rest

of us try to follow their example the game will be damaged, not just

their reputations. Their style of play is an absolute bore.

''What people like Geoff Cooke are doing is taking the enjoyment out

of international rugby.

''I read that the English squad now have a psychologist. Can you

imagine what a psychologist would have made of a flair player like Jim

Renwick or someone as unpredictable as Andy Irvine?

Many of the England players will not even take a pint after a match.

I'm sorry, but if this is what the modern game is all about I am very

glad to be retired.

''They say the English will be the fittest team in next year's World

Cup. That will be a fat lot of good if they don't win it.''

Deans believes his generation had the best of both worlds. Their

preparation was professional, but they did not have to cope with the

financial pressures which now surround the top players.

''I think we are moving towards a professional game. Not just players

will be paid but coaches, too -- it is happening already. In some ways

it might be better if we just accepted that and paid the wages. At least

that way the 'donkeys' of the front row might get a fair share of the

cash.

''Before we do, however, we should be quite clear where this is taking

the sport. If it means playing the kind of stereotyped, brain-washed

rugby that England are dishing up, is this really what is required? When

the Twickenham crowd start to slow handclap does not that tell us

something?''

The man has a point. If Wales achieve the Grand Slam, and I hope they

do, they will at least have some tries to show on the video.