KEY POINTS:
The danger posed by England has risen to code red but it has nothing to do with the side's performance.
Martin Johnson's arrival as coach, despite last weekend's loss to Australia, has given rugby followers across England renewed hope the red rose will once again bloom.
England's appearance
in last year's World Cup final was an aberration, a blip at the most opportune time. Most of England's rugby people know that and they know that the past five years have, by and large, been a miserable period.
England have lost their way since that heady night in Sydney five years ago when Johnson lifted the William Webb Ellis trophy.
World domination never happened. They came back from Australia and disintegrated. Johnson is supposedly going to lead them back to the Promised Land.
It has to be supposed - as it doesn't look as if they are going to be heading towards fulfilment anytime soon. His predecessor Brian Ashton was dumped for, World Cup aside, failing to produce results. The man before, Andy Robinson, was also dumped for lack of results.
By casting adrift the national coach, the RFU seemingly believe improvement will come simply by introducing different players, tactics and team culture.
And that's the big problem. The performance of England was so abject in New Zealand this year there is no way they were an inspirational team talk short of beating the All Blacks.
It looked, from the outside at least, as if there are had been endemic failings in the basic skills development, particularly among the backs. Those shortcomings can't be addressed quickly nor glossed over which is why Johnson won't perform miracles.
It is also why England are unlikely to beat the All Blacks this Saturday. They will be tough. Twickenham is an intimidating ground and the English will feed off it. Their forwards, while nowhere near as skilled nor as comfortable on the ball, could bash anything and there is enough nous in the back division to nudge the ball into awkward corners.
It won't be easy for the All Blacks. The score may blow out in the end but only if the English empty everything into the first 65 minutes.
No, England are not a threat to New Zealand because of Johnson and the optimism his arrival has brought.
They are a threat because last week a major decision that could further cripple New Zealand was made. The RFU has agreed to support a second tier fully professional league with one promotion spot each year into the Guinness Premiership.
Currently the second tier is known as National League One that has 16, mainly semi-professional teams.
As of next season, that league will slim to 12 teams all of whom will have the budget to be fully professional. The RFU have sold broadcast rights to Sky and found change in its own coffers to ensure each club will receive 3.5 million ($9.5 million). That will rise to 4.8 million by 2015.
If anyone is struggling to see why this affects New Zealand then the answer is this: almost overnight, 12 fully professional clubs will be formed and between them they will need close to 400 players.
England, despite their enormous number of registered players, can't just click their fingers and produce ready-made professionals in time for next season. These clubs will have money and they will come looking for talent - first call, New Zealand.
Everyone loves buying Kiwi if they can afford it and most, if not all, of the 12 clubs who form what will become known as The Championship, will have the ability to come shopping in New Zealand. They won't necessarily be looking for All Blacks or even Super 14 stars - solid provincial men will be good enough.
Martyn Thomas, chairman of the RFU board, announced the decision to turn National One professional, by saying: "Negotiations have been taking place since November last year and there was universal agreement that moving to a 12-club league was the way forward.
"It is the best way to ensure a high level of competition that will accelerate the development of young English players, coaches and referees, and council decided that the journey should start as soon as possible.
"Clearly the league will not become fully professional overnight and there is much detail to be put in place."
The detail so far is that the league will be structured as the Premiership with 22 games to be played and then possibly a playoff series. There are also plans to extend the Anglo-Welsh cup competition to include The Championship, meaning each club will have a minimum of 32 games per season.
The winner of The Championship will be promoted the bottom side in the Premiership relegated to make the second tier an attractive proposition for aspiring players.
That the RFU have the confidence to approve this new set-up in the midst of such a biting recession shows just how strong the game is in England.
The game here has the money, the support from fans, independent financiers, broadcasters and sponsors. Extending their professional set-up to 24 teams is a massive decision. It shows dramatically where the power base of the game is in terms of money.
At Twickenham this Saturday, the All Blacks will no doubt show where the power base of the game is in terms of players.
England has the money and New Zealand has the players.
That's a dangerous scenario for the latter.
