Fate occasionally smiles when you least expect it, as England's Joe Worsley found on the flight home from Buenos Aires yesterday morning. One of several players to accept a cash incentive for downgrading from business class to economy, Worsley was steeling himself for 13 hours next to the plane's youngest occupant when a stewardess tapped his elbow and ushered him back up to the promised land. No English back-row forward has moved so fast all season.
For many of Clive Woodward's returning squad, and a good number of those who stayed behind, a similarly unpredictable game of musical chairs now awaits. The England manager has 30 elite seats to fill in his squad for next year's World Cup and it is fair to say the check-in desk is full to overflowing. An awful lot can happen in 16 months but Saturday's unexpected Test success over the Pumas will have caused some restlessness beside hotel pools in the Mediterranean.
To argue that many of those who touched down at Heathrow will never win another cap is to miss the point entirely; the key thing from Woodward's perspective is that every single established player who missed the trip now knows relaxation is impossible. Leicester's Ben Kay has suggested that England could now field four different, highly competitive teams; in truth they could select a fifth XV who might still give Italy a decent run at Twickenham.
Closer analysis suggests as many as half of what might be called Woodward's traditional Test team will need a quick start to next season to stay ahead of the pack. Of the top 45 players at his disposal, only three have not played in a winning English Test side and the pecking order is increasingly blurred.
Had Matt Dawson, for one, been able to travel, he might have condemned himself to a less fretful summer. Andy Gomarsall of Gloucester did more than enough on Saturday to suggest the old Dawson-Kyran Bracken axis is no longer impenetrable, and his challenge will increase now he is back under the expert eye of Nigel Melville at Kingsholm.
Kay has made such strides in the second row that Martin Johnson and Danny Grewcock are chasing one spot, while Neil Back will do well to hold off the consistent Lewis Moody at openside flanker this autumn, never mind October next year. Even Lawrence Dallaglio will need to prove himself afresh, as will Mike Catt.
As for Jason Leonard, the next generation are now queuing around the block for his jersey and there are whispers Woodward is even considering switching Phil Vickery to loose-head.
No one is suggesting such great English rugby servants have done much wrong, but there is no sense in Woodward letting himself in for problems with sell-by dates in the build-up to the tournament. The manager will certainly not be picking on reputation and it is likely that Charlie Hodgson and the uncapped Gloucester speed merchant James Simpson-Daniel, for example, will start at least one of the consecutive November Tests against New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.
There is also the issue of the captaincy. If neither Johnson, Back, Dallaglio or Dawson is sure of his place in the team, it could be that England enter the World Cup led by Gloucester's Cornish giant Vickery. "Everyone has made note of what he's done on this tour," admitted Woodward. "In this job you've got to go game by game, but every international coach has got an eye on the World Cup. You've got to get yourself in the squad, then anything can happen."
Woodward certainly deserves congratulations at this stage. He was determined to broaden the base of quality England players and his experiments have borne fruit.
Compared with the infamous England tour in 1998, when Australia beat England 76-0, the transformation has been spectacular. If England Rugby Ltd can hammer out a deal with the clubs to reduce the demands on the elite players - full-scale pre-season training at London Irish starts Monday - Woodward and co really will be poised for lift-off.
Woodward's five XVs
First XV
Robinson (Sale); Cohen (Northampton), Tindall (Bath), Greenwood , Luger (both Harlequins); Wilkinson (Newcastle), Bracken (Saracens); Rowntree (Leicester), Thompson (Northampton), Vickery (Gloucester), Kay , Johnson (both Leicester), Hill (Saracens), Back (Leicester), Dallaglio (Wasps).
Second XV
Perry (Bath); Healey (Leicester), Simpson-Daniel (Gloucester), Catt (Bath), Christophers (Bristol); Hodgson (Sale), Dawson (Northampton); Flatman (Saracens), West (Leicester), White (Bristol), Grewcock , Borthwick (both Bath), A Sanderson (Sale), Moody (Leicester), J Worsley (Wasps).
Third XV
Horak (London Irish); Balshaw (Bath), Appleford (L Irish), Johnston (Saracens), Lewsey (Wasps); Walder (Newcastle), Gomarsall ; Woodman (both Gloucester), Greening (Wasps), Leonard, Codling (both Harlequins), Shaw (Wasps), Corry (Leicester), Danaher (L Irish), Forrester (Gloucester).
Fourth XV
Stimpson (Leicester); Rees (Bristol), Lloyd (Leicester), Paul (Gloucester), Stephenson (Newcastle); Barkley (Bath), Duncombe (Harlequins); M Worsley (London Irish), Regan (Bath), Morris (Northampton), Palmer (Leeds), Vyvyan (Newcastle), Balding (Leicester), P Sanderson (Harlequins), Anglesea (Sale).
Fifth XV
Sampson (Wasps); Cueto (Sale), May (Newcastle), Sorrell (Saracens), Hanley (Sale); King (Wasps), Walshe (Sale); Green (Wasps), Long (Bath), Garforth (Leicester), Brown (Bristol), Fidler (Gloucester), Winters (Harlequins), Gustard , Sheasby (both London Irish).
