When England were struggling back in the 1970s and Wales were on top, the joke in the principality was: "If the English ever get organised, they'll be dangerous."
Times change and, helped by the advent of professionalism, England exploited their financial muscle and large playing base to such an extent they won the 2003 World Cup and reached the final again in 2007.
There is now no doubt that English rugby union is organised.
The fear amongst some fans, heading into the Six Nations, is that while the players are 'organised' to within an inch of their rugby lives, the overall strategy and tactics, both of which have been called into question by several former internationals, supplied by an extensive backroom team allow little room for independent thought.
England were depressingly limited during a wretched November series where they only just did enough to defeat Argentina and were beaten by both Australia and New Zealand.
England manager Martin Johnson and backs coach Brian Smith have since admitted they may have been "over prescriptive" and it's true that a raft of injuries to first-choice players, several of whom are now fit, didn't help the team's cause.
There was much debate about whether England adopted the right gameplan in November but both Johnson, appointed to the manager's role without any previous coaching experience for all he was a World Cup winning captain, and his detractors could agree it was poorly executed.
Restoring efficiency, even if Johnson wants to play a traditionally forward-dominated 'English' game, will be a key task come the February 6 opener against Wales at Twickenham.
And part of that comes from maintaining discipline, with England knowing they must avoid the kind of self-inflicted wounds that saw them collect six yellow cards in the opening three games of last season's Championship.
Johnson is fond of pointing out how England, the runners-up in last season's Six Nations, only lost in that edition to eventual grand slam champions Ireland and Wales by a combined total of nine points.
But he opened himself up to potential criticism this week by saying the current squad he had assembled was the strongest of his 18-month reign.
Backs Delon Armitage, Riki Flutey and Toby Flood have all recovered from injury while exciting young players such as Courtney Lawes and Ben Foden have also been called up.
"There is competition throughout and that is what you need," Johnson said.
"This is the best squad we have had in my time being in charge and it will only get stronger."
Doubts remain over whether Steve Borthwick, Johnson's captain, is one of the two best locks in England.
And there are questions over whether goalkicking ace Jonny Wilkinson can be persuaded to line-up as flat as the fly-half does in club rugby in a bid to get England's backs going rather than stifle any attack at its inception.
"Jonny is an exceptional player," Johnson said.
"Certain things that we asked him to do in the autumn in the role of first receiver were maybe not understood by people."
"But Jonny is a guy who is looking to improve from game to game."
