The times are indeed changing. Yesterday's nominations for the Professional Rugby Players' Association's player of the year did not contain the name of one forward; and the only overseas player among the five, Riki Flutey, will qualify for England on the grounds of residence in a couple of months.
So much for the southern-hemisphere's perception of English rugby being kick and clap. It was an argument that was again trotted out last week in the build-up to the International Rugby Board's vote on the experimental law variations, as obsolescent as the four-point try.
Two of the three previous winners of the PRA award have been forwards, Jason White and Martin Corry, while the Saracens' outside-half Glen Jackson, the current holder, won it primarily for the way he controlled matches, as well as his goal-kicking record.
This month, the Wasps' trio of Danny Cipriani, Flutey and Paul Sackey will vie with Gloucester's James Simpson-Daniel and Bath's Olly Barkley. All five players personify the greater attacking intent that has made this year's Premiership arguably the best, in terms of pure quality, on record. Their clubs currently occupy the top three positions in the table, but there were strong contenders elsewhere, not least Shane Geraghty, Luke McAlister, Charlie Hodgson and Neil de Kock.
If the list is symbolic of the way the nature of the game in the Premiership has moved away from the attritional rugby which made the likes of Corry and White stand-out performers in the recent past, the Bath flanker Michael Lipman should have been close to breaking into it. He is revelling in the flowing style now employed at the Recreation Ground, along with the tight-head prop Matt Stevens, while the arrival at Bath of the scrum-half Michael Claassens proved catalytic.
Wasps had a few other contenders with Fraser Waters and Dominic Waldouck playing influential roles, while Matt Banahan has proved his finishing power and Joe Maddock is in the form of his career at Bath, whose full-back Nick Abendanon is one of the best counter-attackers in the Premiership.
The task for the England team manager Martin Johnson is to get the national side to reflect the way the game is being played in the Premiership. Brian Ashton ultimately lost his job because the men in white, for whatever reason, were reluctant to leave the shelter of the past.
Johnson still has to appoint an attack coach, a key position given the backs coming through the system. Players like Cipriani will challenge whoever is appointed: it will be anything but a one-way process, which is perhaps why it is taking Johnson time to find the right man. The obvious candidate is the only one who has been ruled out, Ashton.
Cipriani will be the favourite to secure the award, not least because he is of an age when he should be nominated in the young player of the season category. The way he has spearheaded Wasps' drive for another title made him a natural contender for the top award, even if he very much represents the future of England.
It has also been the best Premiership campaign in another way. For the first time since the play-off system was introduced six seasons ago, the four semi-finalists look like being all potential champions. Gloucester and Bath have already qualified, while Wasps and Sale will join them, barring improbable slips on Saturday.
Home advantage has always been key in the semi-final, as Saracens and Bristol found last year, but if Sale and Wasps find themselves on the road, two highly competitive matches should result. With all respect to Harlequins for the advances they have made this season and the excellence of some of their attacking play, last Sunday's home defeat to Sale showed they are not quite ready, while Leicester have fallen away after chasing the treble this time a year ago.
Their head coach, Marcelo Loffreda, is facing the sack after Saturday's match against Harlequins if Leicester fail to make the play-offs, but that would only beg the question why he was appointed in the first place. Arriving at Welford Road after the World Cup was always going to place him at a disadvantage, coupled with the demands of getting to grips with a different culture. While Hodgson and McAlister have worked well together at Sale, Andy Goode and Aaron Mauger have not complemented each other at Welford Road and the back-line has consequently suffered.
Change takes time, as Steve Meehan found out at Bath, but Loffreda found a different landscape in the Premiership to the one he had anticipated. Leicester need to be more like the Argentina that defeated France in the World Cup play-off last year than the one which downed the hosts in the opening match of the tournament the month before.
