England Players Are Meant to Be the Racehorses of Rugby but Instead They're Being Worked Like Carthorses

Summary

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EACH year since England defeated Australia to win the World Cup in Sydney in November 2003, Jason Robinson says a man has arrived at Sale Rugby Club with a diligent brief and a catalogue of well- intentioned questions. His mission has been to conduct a survey on player burnout.

'We're always asked the same questions from the same guy every year,' said Robinson last week. 'We always give the same answers. And we always get the same results. Nothing.' And in that empty but devastating conclusion, Robinson cuts to what he believes is the true malaise of English rugby. For the man who has won every battle honour in the game, climaxing his career with the solitary try on the night England captured rugby's greatest prize, his country's fall from the stars into the gutter of the international game has been a sporting disaster waiting to happen.

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Extract

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England Players Are Meant to Be the Racehorses of Rugby but Instead They're Being Worked Like Carthorses

'International rugby players in England are supposed to be the thoroughbred racehorses of the game, but too often they end up being put to work as carthorses,' he said.

Even before he announced his retirement from the international game to devote himself to his family 14 months ago - a position he is now considering reversing - Robinson had complain...

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