There are many eternal questions. Why do all aircraft, no matter how much your ticket cost, where you’ve come from, and what time you land, always dock at a gate requiring a walk of not less than 47 miles to the terminal? Why was there no running water in the taps on my train to Cheltenham on Friday? And why, beyond being an idiot, did I back Lord Windermere in the Gold Cup, but only for a place, thus depriving myself of several hundred quid? I suppose being an idiot does it.
Now add another question, but whisper it: could England actually win the 2015 Rugby World Cup? They just failed to win the Six Nations because Ireland scraped a thrilling victory over France in the best and last game of a brilliant championship. England should have eyes now only on next September. They do need to win their World Cup pool, which would give a relatively easy path to the final. But if they come second, South Africa and New Zealand lie in wait on a very rocky path to glory. Standing in England’s way at the group stage are potential elephant traps in the shape of Wales and Australia. Wales could be the greater hurdle, because they only ever seem to care about beating England, hence their appalling record against southern hemisphere opposition. That group match should be thrilling. And painful. Squadrons of Welsh players started the third Test for the Lions in Sydney last summer. How many would you put in a Lions team now? Four or five, maybe.
Home advantage always helps and the rediscovery of the Twickenham roar, when HQ was in danger of becoming a cemetery, has been immensely important. Stuart Lancaster, who is turning out to be a hugely impressive leader, has done an impeccable job of re-engaging his players with the nation and with their own history: from making them write on their jersey what it means to them, to putting the names of every other player in that position above the pegs in the Twickenham dressing room, and parking the team bus in the car park — an idea he nicked from Toulon — so the players have to walk through the crowd.
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