"There is, seemingly, a prevalent attitude within New Zealand rugby circles that there is little to be gained from investing in foreign players - that they wouldn't be able to bring anything that is not already available domestically.
It's easy to see why that thinking exists. The All Blacks are, and have been for some time, the best team in the world and so many players revered in Europe wilt or prove to be grossly inferior when they encounter the New Zealand national side."
Not my words - an expat UK journalist
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/gregor-paul/news/article.cfm?a_id=196&objectid=10681094
It is what it is...Yes we have not won a world cup since 87 rah rah rah but we have won one, which a number of other tier 1 sides can't say (all the UK/Europe sides bar England obviously).
And not all
English/UK players are shite, for example imo
BOD, Wilko, Cipriani, Croft, Haskell, Moody,
D'arcy, Henson (when on form), Shane Williams, Martyn Williams to name a few...(list excludes Lores) but...these guys rarely play awesomely against the men in black - they're really good against teams like ...Italy, Tonga and Fiji etc though...