He's at it again

I'm referring of course to Stephen Jones of the Sunday Times.

When not demanding that Martin Johnson sacks skipper Steve Borthwick (who apparently isn't good enough to play lock for Old Gitonians 6th XV), Mr Jones does like to make bold statements such as:

"England in this era have three players of true world class — Andrew Sheridan, Simon Shaw and Lewis Moody, all up front, and Sheridan is injured. They have a few players who can be world class in streaks (Ugo Monye, Dylan Hartley, Courtney Lawes, James Haskell, Danny Hipkiss)"

Not too many arguments with the first half of that sentence, although arguably only Shaw has proven to be consistently world class over the last few years. The second half of the statement is, however, quite risible. Let's look at the list:

Ugo Monye? The bloke who cost the Lions the 1st Test in South Africa by butchering 2 tries and couldn't catch a cold against Argentina in November.

Dylan Hartley? Undoubted raw potential but his class is far from proven.

Courtney Lawes? Seriously? Based on 5 minutes against Australia and a couple of decent Northampton performances? Unproven.

James Haskell? James Haskell? The one with the white boots, upright posture and a penchant for giving away daft penalties? That James Haskell?

Danny Hipkiss? Really? Based on what exactly, the ability to run smack into his opponent each time he gets the ball?

I guess what I'm trying to say here is that these aren't dreadful players (well, not all of them) but world class, even in streaks?

World Class? My arse.