Four years ago, England manager Martin Johnson found himself in such an unholy pickle over the fullback position that he handed Ugo Monye the No 15 shirt for a Twickenham test against Argentina.
Monye was a class wing blessed with the speed of a sprinter and just about the most popular rugby player in the land. What he was not - and his performance that day proved it - was anyone's idea of a fullback.
Last night against the Wallabies, another Harlequin, Mike Brown, performed the role. Unlike his clubmate, who was selected out of position because of an acute shortage of viable alternatives, Brown fought off challenges from ambitious rivals Ben Foden and Alex Goode.
According to England coach Stuart Lancaster, England now have a fullback feast rather than a famine. "It's just about the most competitive position of the lot," Lancaster said this week, thinking not only of the three candidates in the elite squad, but also of Mathew Tait of Leicester and Elliot Daly of Wasps.
It is far from clear that any of the contenders has what it takes to provide England with the combination of attacking threat and defensive security they will need when they run into the likes of the two Israels - Dagg of New Zealand, Folau of Australia - at the next World Cup.
Folau may well have reinforced the point overnight. With the possible exception of Tait, whose main problem is staying uninjured, Lancaster's choices are incomplete: disparate partsof fullbacks, pretending to be whole.
Brown is a courageous defender with a strong left-footed kicking game and the happy knack of breaking first-up tackles. But can he open up opponents with Dagg-like wizardry or Folau-ish athleticism? Goode has vision but lacks pace. Foden is as quick but lacks vision. Daly? For all his gifts, 2015 may come too early for him.
All this goes to the heart of what it takes to be a fullback at international level. So many people believe a No15 must be able to deal with the opposition's kicking game - that he must be safe under the high ball.
"I'd turn the argument on its head," says former England coach Brian Ashton. "Who is our most explosive runner? Who has the most positive attacking mindset? Let's play him in the position.
"Worried about him under the high ball? Concerned about the strength of his boot? We can teach him those things. What we can't teach him are the so-called add-ons ... the basics."
The fullbacks in Ashton's personal pantheon are Frenchmen Pierre Villepreux and Serge Blanco, and All Black Christian Cullen. All three were pure attacking spirits, albeit of different stripes. Villepreux brought depth of thought to the game and its possibilities, while Blanco's brilliance stemmed from an understanding of space in its highest form. Cullen was instinct made flesh.
"I can remember working alongside Christian on a coaching course in the United States," Ashton says. "When you asked him to explain some of the things he did, he found it difficult. He certainly couldn't draw you a diagram on a blackboard. Asked to do it on the pitch with a ball in his hand and it was a different story. It was fascinating and exhilarating to see him close up."
- Independent