Over 30 first choice players were unavailable for the England summer tour to South Africa due to injuries and the exclusion of players from Bath, Leicester and London Wasps due to their involvement in European finals. Although it could not have been predicted that three English clubs would reach the European finals, we need to reflect seriously on the structured season if we want England to be competitive in the summer test programme. Under the captaincy of Jason Robinson, the squad selected was an interesting mixture of highly experienced players, others who have only recently come onto the international scene and seven who were uncapped. This was always going to be a tough and challenging series against a full strength South Africa, even before a devastating viral epidemic swept through the England camp. It was nevertheless a brave and determined England team that took on a strong South Africa, enduring consecutive test match defeats 58–10 in Bloemfontein and 55–22 in Pretoria. There has been much publicity about the value of the summer tours but there is no substitute for the experience the players obtain from playing southern hemisphere countries away from home.

The World Cup preparation programme began just three weeks after our return from the summer tour. Forty-seven players were invited to join the training camp which began with a highly successful, surprise three day leadership exercise with the Royal Marines. This was followed by a week and a half at Brown’s training facility in Portugal.