England's ageing squad face testing build-up to finals

There is little likelihood of England, champions of Europe once more and Grand Slam celebrants for the first time since the Tories went out of fashion, having their shot at World Cup glory undermined by a lack of rugby. They may be undermined by a lack of other things – players, principally, for it will be nothing short of astonishing if Clive Woodward's squad reach Australia intact, given an absurd fixture list that might have been designed specifically to propel strong men towards an early grave – but they will not be caught cold.

Assuming Ben Cohen, Matthew Dawson, Steve Thompson, Paul Grayson and Trevor Woodman are not suffering from clean-sweep hangovers (the price of beer in Dublin, almost as outrageous as Jonny Wilkinson's wrong-footed drop goals, may have prevented them from over-indulging), it will probably have dawned on them that they have a cup final to contest this coming Saturday. Graham Rowntree, Martin Johnson, Ben Kay, Neil Back, Josh Lewsey, Lawrence Dallaglio and Joe Worsley must continue to fight on both European and domestic fronts; Wilkinson has a relegation scrap to negotiate; Mike Tindall, Danny Grewcock, Richard Hill and Kyran Bracken are in the same boat, with an imminent Parker Pen Challenge Cup semi-final thrown in for good measure.

And then a rest? Fat chance. Besides the new-fangled series of Premiership play-offs and wildcard matches and this and that and the other, the poor bloody infantry are being packed off to New Zealand and Australia, where the All Blacks and Maoris and Wallabies will be as fit as fleas and twice as nasty in their mid-season pomp. Add back-to-back summer Tests with France and a one-off game with Wales (not too testing, admittedly) and holiday opportunities look very thin on the ground. A weekend at Butlin's, anyone?

Clive Woodward rarely gives public vent to his concerns over the unprecedented volume of club rugby: while the coach will never elbow Kofi Annan out of a job, he has at least learned to skirt around the diplomatic elephant traps into which he once had a habit of falling. But he must be worried sick. Many of his most influential players will be the wrong side of 30 by the time England fly to Perth in October – the average age of Sunday's Grand Slam-winning party was 29, less a day or two – and as the French demonstrated during the seven weeks of the tournament, the untimely loss of three or four top-notchers can transform a silk purse into a particularly gristly sow's ear.

Charlie Hodgson is already struggling to make the World Cup cut, and there are no guarantees that Phil Vickery, such an important figure in the England set-up, will recover from his latest bout of back trouble in time to play a full role. Those powerful unions who have drawn most benefit from the shift to professionalism do not skimp on the science, and the medical back-up at Twickenham is outstandingly efficient – so efficient, indeed, that Jason Leonard and Back and the rest of the bus-pass brigade continue to defy the ageing process. All the same, nothing lasts for ever – not even Johnson's enthusiasm for annoying foreign Presidents. This outstanding squad needs managing by a sport sympathetic to their needs, not mangling by a sport that insists on bleeding them white.

England demonstrated in Dublin that, all things being equal, they are the most disciplined, technically proficient, physically dominant side in world rugby. At earlier points in the championship, they also displayed some wit and imagination, much of it through the good offices of Will Greenwood, the one sublime footballer in a back division short on creativity. Being the obsessive he is, Wilkinson will work all the hours God sends to bring more invention to his own game – "Jonny is a fantastic player and is getting better year on year, but he still has a way to go," Woodward agreed yesterday – and if he develops a talent for the unorthodox in time for the World Cup, England will be the more potent for it.

The French created more than anyone, as usual, but struggled to finish the things they started. They frightened the living daylights out of England with their late tries at Twickenham but, having lost in London, they shrugged their way through the rest of the championship with an insouciance bordering on the insulting, and while Bernard Laporte lambasted his side in public, the coach may not have been as furious as he made out. He knows better than anyone that with Fabien Galthié, David Bory, Pieter de Villiers and Tony Marsh restored to the mix, his team will slip through the gears like a peloton of blue-shirted Hinaults.

Italy, gathering momentum under John Kirwan, were terrific from start to finish and should have beaten the hard-working but lightweight Scots in Edinburgh. They unearthed some quality acts – every club coach in Europe will be inquiring after Ramiro Martinez and Carlo Bezzi come the summer, while Aaron Persico repeatedly produced performances – and, like the French, will be a whole lot stronger once their injury list improves.

Wales, who descended to such depths that they might have been playing inside a diving bell, must confront Italy in an important World Cup pool match in Canberra on 25 October. If Mauro Bergamasco and Marco Bortolami are back in circulation for the Azzurri, the Red Dragonhood will fear yet another sub-aqua experience. There again, they may already have lost to Canada by then.

CHRIS HEWETT'S TEAM OF THE TOURNAMENT

15 Clément Poitrenaud (France)
14 Geordan Murphy (Ireland)
13 Will Greenwood (England)
12 Damien Traille (France)
11 Chris Paterson (Scotland)
10 Jonny Wilkinson (England)
9 Alessandro Troncon (Italy)
1 Jean-Jacques Crenca (France)
2 Steve Thompson (England)
3 Ramiro Martinez (Italy)
4 Martin Johnson (England, capt)
5 Malcolm O'Kelly (Ireland)
6 Richard Hill (England)
7 Aaron Persico (Italy)
8 Lawrence Dallaglio (England)