Graphic: how the southern hemisphere teams have dominated their northern counterparts

When Graham Henry says he is “shocked” at the scale of England's 36-point loss to South Africa last weekend, there is no quizzical grin. As New Zealand's coach, as a New Zealander pure and simple, Henry takes his rugby seriously and he knows that the global game needs its powerhouses.

He will be delighted if his All Blacks take their third grand slam of Britain and Ireland by beating England at Twickenham on Saturday but healthy competition is an absolute must in any sport. The two countries in the northern hemisphere best equipped to produce that, in terms of playing resources and financial backing, are England and France, and neither is sustaining the necessary level of competition.

To a degree it was ever thus. The North v South debate is a hardy annual, upset now and again by the Lions or by England's rise to world domination in 2003; France have had their moments, Ireland have thrown a spanner in South African and Australian works recently - though not away from Dublin - but the figures show that the southern hemisphere has usually enjoyed the ascendancy.

“People are saying the Lions, made up from four countries, could struggle in South Africa next summer and that's scary,” Jake White said yesterday after a month in which the home nations have lost all seven internationals they have played against the Sanzar countries, with only limited prospects of relief on Saturday at Twickenham and the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, where Wales play Australia.

White, coach to the Springboks who won last year's World Cup and of the Barbarians team who will play Australia at Wembley on Wednesday, sees no great mystery to why the gap seems wider than ever. In no particular order, and with England at the front of his mind, he sees accurate selection as vital to a successful team but, behind that, better systems to produce playing and coaching talent, and limits, self-imposed if necessary, to the purchase of overseas players.

He remembers visiting England as an assistant coach to Nick Mallett's Springboks 11 years ago and wondering why so many leading clubs had foreign players in key decision-making positions - Michael Lynagh, Thierry Lacroix, Joel Stransky, the names roll easily off the tongue. Look around the Guinness Premiership and see how many clubs have overseas players in the spine of their best XV, a factor that Henry believes is hurting England.

He is candid in his opinion that the flood of New Zealanders plying their trade in Europe has adversely affected England and France, where the rewards of club rugby are greatest. It has not, of course, helped New Zealand, and Sean Fitzpatrick, the former All Blacks hooker and captain, points out that the second-string New Zealand team that struggled to beat a weakened Munster this month proves the point.

But Fitzpatrick, a summariser on Saturday for Sky Sports's exclusive live coverage of the England-New Zealand game, remembers when his country had to get back to basics, as England are doing now. When Laurie Mains became coach in 1992, Fitzpatrick said, “we were down to the bare wood, I became captain by default but we turned into a pretty good team.

“If anyone is going to survive in England, it's Martin Johnson. He's held in a special place but everything I'm seeing from him sends out the right message. I don't know if there are too many people in England who can handle the pressure, particularly from the media, but he has a mission. He didn't have to take the job [of team manager], he has thought long and hard about how to deal with the ups and downs.”

Still it is a fact of life that in New Zealand, South Africa and Australia, Johnson would not have been appointed, because he lacked qualifications and experience. This is what White and the man he is working with at Saracens this week, Eddie Jones, director of rugby at the club but who coached Australia to the 2003 World Cup final, have emphasised in the absence of systems to produce continuity.

Though it is easy to accuse the two men of being a mutually supportive double act, since they worked together at last year's World Cup and pair up again with the Barbarians, they believe that the function of the Premiership clubs is not only to survive but to produce England-qualified players. White points to the likes of Adam Powell, Noah Cato and Andy Saull as proof that Saracens have better systems in place than the RFU.

Not only that, they have young English coaches such as Alex Sanderson and Paul Gustard coming through, of whom Sanderson has spent time in Queensland, an overseas stint that many Premiership coaches have not experienced. “But there's nothing underneath the Premiership, young guys need an underage tournament in which to play and the RFU hasn't seen that,” Jones said. “England haven't moved forward since they won the World Cup in 2003.

“Because Clive Woodward fell foul of the administrators, they threw out the whole lot. All the intellectual property they developed got lost because it was associated with Woodward and now they're trying to find it again. They should dust off a lot of his old boxes.”

White's thesis, too, is that England should not move too far from the style that has, historically, suited them best and taken them to three World Cup finals. “Broader games don't win World Cups,” he said. “The psyche of South African players is the same as England's, they need structure.”

He and Jones see the Christmas period as a significant hurdle for Johnson's development of a new team and their ability to narrow once more the divide with the southern-hemisphere unions. It will demonstrate whether he has the objectivity and the selectorial instincts to make the right cuts to his elite squad, to discover the right combinations that can take England forward. Johnson may see Saturday's game against the world's best team as a big enough hurdle in itself.