Why are we running out of steam?

I am finding it increasingly difficult to get my head around the player welfare programme and the current state of the provinces.

A week after what Warren Gatland described as the best and most physical international he has seen in his time in northern hemisphere rugby — as Wales and England went toe to toe at the Millennium Stadium — it was instructive to peruse the respective team sheets of Harlequins, Saracens, Leicester Tigers and the Ospreys on the weekend following that epic international contest.

Saracens were pitted against Harlequins in a top of the table Premiership clash and Mark McCall had no hesitation in playing Andy Goode, Chris Ashton, Brad Barritt and Owen Farrell, all four of whom started for England the previous week. Some of you might suggest, with justification, that as all of that quartet are backs, they were not prone to the greater physical demands of the set piece and therefore in a better position to play.