Clive Woodward, the England manager, will name his first training squad of the season today, fully aware this week's burning issue is not so much who will be reporting for fitness testing next Monday as the mental and physical state of many of those on his lengthy list of invitees.
Of all the issues facing northern hemisphere administrators, the need for urgent action to ease the demands on leading players has barged its way to the front of the queue and, if the Rugby Football Union fondly imagine the problem will disappear before England's first autumn test against Australia on November 18, a phone call to Lawrence Dallaglio will swiftly put them straight.
On top of their domestic, European and international commitments, England squad members are now being asked to train together every Monday next month and, with many club coaches already diagnosing wear and tear among players whose off-season passed in the blink of an eye, Dallaglio yesterday directed a clear warning shot at Twickenham.
"We are some way from talk of a strike, but there is real concern about the pressure being put on players at the moment," said the Wasps captain. "The players' voices need to be heard when everything from the structure of the season to the number of games players should not exceed is being discussed, and that can be done with the Professional Rugby Players' Association.
"No one has mentioned a strike but everyone accepts the need for something dramatic, because too much mediocre rugby is being produced by players who are being asked to play too many matches. "I don't believe the players realise how powerful they could be in the game." A trawl down the list of England squad possibles who either missed last summer's South African tour, have yet to play a minute of premiership rugby this season or are currently nursing ailments of various descriptions is a sobering exercise but the likes of Matt Dawson may turn out to be the lucky ones.
Dawson's return from shoulder surgery is now unlikely to happen until November, the Northampton skipper having had visions of a swift comeback banished last weekend by the sight of his Saints' team-mate Jon Sleightholme suffering another dislocation having barely regained his first-team place.
By the New Year, though, he should be match fit and sharp and ready to challenge for both his Six Nations place and the Lions tour. A fresh mind and body is the rugby equivalent of reaching the promised land; by next June, metaphorically if not literally, one or two of Dawson's colleagues are more likely to be floating face down in the Dead Sea.
A three-day disciplinary hearing starts today in Cape Town to determine whether the South African coach Nick Mallett should be censured for criticising the South African Rugby Football Union's ticketing policies last month.
