“WORLD-class player”.
You hear the accolade used so freely, and often with such little insight or explanation offered, that the currency has not been so much devalued as fallen through the floor.
In the 2003 England world champion team Martin Johnson, Lawrence Dallaglio, Jonny Wilkinson, Jason Robinson, Will Greenwood, Matt Dawson, Neil Back, and Richard Hill were name-checked by coach Clive Woodward as being “fantastic” worldclass players. There were others, like front row forwards Jason Leonard, Phil Vickery, and Steve Thompson, who also merited the acco...