To say England's leading rugby union clubs no longer have their European rivals quaking in their boots is a bit like observing that David Cameron upset a few people on the Continent last week. So at the end of a week in which the runaway leaders of football's Premier League exited the Champions League, the two east Midlands clubs who were expected to spearhead England's challenge in the Heineken Cup trudged home from France contemplating the prospect of being frozen out of the competition before the end of winter.
Leicester's 30-12 defeat at the hands of Clermont Auvergne at Stade Marcel-Michelin on Sunday is not necessarily fatal but Northampton's 41-22 reverse at Stade Pierre-Antoine 24 hours earlier was worrying for the Saints and English rugby in general. Northampton, beaten in last May's final in Cardiff by Leinster, have lost all three of their games in Pool One after their defeat against a far from awesome Castres. This has not been a good few weeks for their coach Jim Mallinder. Touted as a possible replacement for Martin Johnson last month, Mallinder was optimistic of returning to Twickenham, the scene of Northampton's Heineken Cup triumph in 2000, next spring for another tilt at glory.
Elsewhere, there were not too many reasons for English optimism. Harlequins, with 14 successive wins, had had a stellar start to their season. But Europe's bluebloods Toulouse put them in their place at The Stoop on Friday night, just as the European champions Leinster put paid to Bath's chances of progress with a win at the Recreation Ground on Sunday. With Gloucester and London Irish already pretty much out of the picture, only Saracens, who lead Pool Five, had a happy weekend.
England's champion club beat the Ospreys in a compelling match in front of 41,000 at Wembley. But while they are punching their considerable weight in Europe it is difficult to see any English club playing in the Twickenham final next May. The sobering story of Harlequins' defeat sums up the story of England's European woes. The club's transformation from pariahs two-and-a-half years ago when a Heineken Cup defeat to Leinster sparked the Bloodgate scandal to the leaders of the Premiership after winning Europe's second-tier Challenge Cup has been the one heartwarming story for an English club during a dreadful autumn. Harlequins have a wealth of young English talent and, while the description of their New Zealand fly-half Nick Evans as the world's second-best fly-half has become a tired cliche it is nevertheless true.
Chris Robshaw is already being spoken about as an England captain in waiting and other young English players, Joe Marler, George Robson, Tom Guest, Jordan Turner-Hall and George Lowe, will surely be staking claims to play for England before long. The trouble is they are not quite ready and the last three were absent on Friday, nursing injuries. Toulouse took Quins apart in the scrum in a performance that had hallmarks of the great Leicester side who once ruled Europe. They were physical, pragmatic, ruthless. Quins were given a sniff of glory just after the break when their excellent full-back Mike Brown, who is also back in the England reckoning after a miserable tour to New Zealand in 2008, scored a try. But Toulouse, who have already beaten Gloucester this season, won 21-10 and were not flattered by the scoreline.
There are plenty of good young English players emerging on the scene, Christian Wade at Wasps, Matt Kvesic at Worcester, Tom Homer at London Irish. But no English club can compete with the financial muscle of the French clubs and no English club has the depth of talent that enabled Leicester and Wasps to dominate in Europe not so long ago.
Certainly it is difficult to see a situation in the near future when those two meet in the final of Europe's premier club competition, as they did in 2007. Wasps won that game with their replacement prop Tom French coming on the field to give a memorable cameo display against England's old campaigner Julian White to turn the game their way. French is a forgotten man. Last week he joined London Welsh after a spell at Barking and it was not big news. Meanwhile, Wasps were defeated at Stade Jean Dauger by Bayonne in the European Challenge Cup. Those old warriors Joe Worsley and Steve Thompson have left the club in recent weeks. England's teams are looking just as battered and bruised in Europe and it may be a while before they find a balm.
