SATURDAY’S result at Twickenham speaks more eloquently than anything about the structure of the game in England. Throw out the coach, the captain, the players if you will but before you do, look around for adequate replacements who will do a better job from a Guinness Premiership increasingly occupied by players unqualified for England.

“The Premiership is a great rugby grounding for any player but we have to have the balance right between the grounding and performances for internationals,” Andy Robinson, the head coach, said. “The mix isn’t right at the moment. We want a really strong Premiership, a strong Heineken Cup and we want to enable England to be successful.”

Not too much to ask for then, merely for the component parts of the game in England to mesh rather than rub up against each other like grit in the engine. The structure affects the coaches and, of course, the players: England could not ask for a more wholehearted captain than Martin Corry but the example he sets is that of workrate, not inspiration.

England make rugby look like hard work. It is, of course, but in any sport played well there are moments of beautiful simplicity, when the quality of the pass, the execution of the tackle creates the score and spectators turn to each other and ask, “How did he do that?” People seldom ask that of England these days: they can see for themselves the bucketloads of perspiration expended but magic moments are in short supply.

It is incredibly harsh to say of such a player but Corry represents the triumph of the second-rater. He is not alone: on Saturday there were five other players in the starting XV who were not good enough to be in the first-choice XV during the 2003 World Cup and, four years later, it is legitimate to ask if they have grown in stature. But his team will play for Corry. He has respect, he has steel, he has talent and he will play his heart out. The English love that. He is one of the senior players who should be rested this summer — Robinson has promised that a number of his core individuals will be left at home for the visit in June to Australia so that they can have the summer off and be revitalised in 2007 for the defence of the World Cup.

But someone else must be captain if he does not go. Lawrence Dallaglio knows more than anyone else in the squad about that job but his promotion to a post he stood down from in 2004 reopens every debate of the past few weeks. Mike Tindall? Not a certainty to start. Nor has Steve Borthwick stapled down his right to the jersey in the iconic position of No 4.

Corry’s decision-making on the pitch is not the worst. You could argue that he should have asked Andy Goode to kick for goal and level matters at 14-14 early in the second half but he sniffed the wind, the growing strength of his tight forwards and opted for a close-range lineout. Unfortunately, England’s lineout could not deliver the ball, though in essence, England did eventually score a try from the position won because for once they did not give the territory away.

But Robinson must consider whether he can retain both Simon Shaw and Danny Grewcock in the mix or whether he can give a tyro such as Nick Kennedy an opportunity in Australia. Kennedy has yet to play for the A team but he has been tearing up Premiership lineouts for fun for London Irish during the past two seasons and is certainly the equal of older campaigners such as Tom Palmer or Louis Deacon.

Again, sadly for one so gifted, it seems that Shaw will not impose himself on the international stage in the same way he does for London Wasps. Indeed it is arguable whether England can translate what Wasps have done in dominating the English club game for three years; the team represent an integrated whole, just as Leicester more than 20 years ago, and then Bath, when England promoted half of them to the white jersey and derived little benefit. At the moment there is the Wasps way and the England way and the one is far more purposeful than the other.

FOR THE RECORD

Captain, March 2005 — Played 9, won 5, lost 4

Strengths: Leadership, workrate, consistency, honesty, unflappability.

Weaknesses: Not in the top echelon of No 8’s. Too small to be a bulldozer and a little one-paced to be a flyer. Too nice? Biggest weakness is not his fault. He has been undermined by coaches who keep taking him off in favour of Lawrence Dallaglio.

Possible replacements: From the old guard — Dallaglio, Matt Dawson, Jonny Wilkinson, Phil Vickery. From the new guard — Steve Borthwick, Pat Sanderson.