UK rugby press call for Wilkinson's head

[Thequeerone]

UK rugby press call for Wilkinson's head
10th March 2008, 10:45 WST


England's dire Six Nations performance against Scotland makes it all the more remarkable that they reached the World Cup final five months ago and have beaten France in their last two meetings in Paris.

Such was the paucity of England ideas in Saturday's 15-9 defeat at Murrayfield on Saturday that British Sunday paper reports were calling for the head of flyhalf Jonny Wilkinson, whose drop goal won the World Cup in Australia in 2003.

Wilkinson, on the day he set an international points record by taking his tally to 1,099, had his worst game for England, poor in decision making and kicking out of hand. His only redeeming factor was his always reliable place kicking.

The clamour for a quick reinstatement of Danny Cipriani must be ringing in Brian Ashton's ears although the England coach told reporters he had no regrets about dropping the 20-year-old for "inappropriate behaviour".

Cipriani had been selected at fullback to make his first start for England but was dropped after he was photographed leaving a night club during the week.

It is possible that Ashton feared a slating by the British media he if he did not punish the youngster in some way for flouting team rules.

Instead, Ashton has been criticised for an over-reaction that left England bereft of the sort of talent who could have given them the spark for a victory at Murrayfield which would have kept them in the title hunt.

Instead, a couple of days after he punished an act of off-field indiscipline, Ashton found himself saying of his team's on-field actions: "The single area we targeted this week was the area we let ourselves down in...Indiscipline cost us the game."

Ashton's England have performed like a yoyo in the tournament, turning victory into defeat against Wales in their opening match, yet beating France in Paris two weeks ago to repeat their shock semi-final win in the World Cup.

In the absence of guile, England might have been expected to bludgeon their way past the Scots but Jonah Lomu lookalike Lesley Vainikolo never got going on a tearing run while on the other wing Paul Sackey, a good runner if rather one-dimensional, seldom got the ball.

Ashton was lost for an explanation for his team's woeful game but the Scots were full of answers of their own with coach Frank Hadden pointing out they had adapted better to the foul weather while their lighter pack dominated England's vaunted forwards.

Chris Paterson, whose four penalties took his tally of consecutive goal successes to a remarkable 30, said Scotland, after three defeats, had at last got in a performance they had looked capable of after reaching the World Cup quarter-finals.

"This time we did the right things at the right time. We forced turnovers, sat off them and made they play. That was clever because while we gave them a few yards we were that much harder to break down," Paterson told reporters.

Ashton, a vastly experienced coach now lost for answers, was left to ponder: "I don't believe in miracles but given what we were doing out there, if we'd won I might have started."

England close their campaign against Ireland, whose performances have also been erratic and who lost at home to Triple Crown winners Wales on Saturday, in a mid-table clash at Twickenham next weekend.

SIX NATIONS SCOREBOARD
Ireland 12 - WALES 16
SCOTLAND 15 - England 9
FRANCE 25 - Italy 13

[Stone Cold]

a game where england failed to score a try and still lost...thats unheard of...

[oxleymoron]

Such was the paucity of England ideas in Saturday's 15-9 defeat at Murrayfield on Saturday that British Sunday paper reports were calling for the head of flyhalf Jonny Wilkinson, whose drop goal won the World Cup in Australia in 2003.

Do they want his head with the MBE still attached?

[Badger]

his head on a pike would look smashing on my front lawn.

[jargan83]

I'm pretty sure it would look good at ARU headquarters, their always asking for peoples heads.

Or the Wallaby bar (is it at Darling Harbour and is still open these days) as a tourist attraction for Rugby fans the world over, think how much the ARU can make from charging people for having their picture taken next to it (they gotta pay the Waratah league converts fund somehow)

Or in the Aussie trophy case seeing as it lacks any meaningfull trophies (unneccesarily harsh for an Aussie supporter to say???)

[GIGS20]

Being unnecessarily hars in your assessment of your teams capablities is the hallmark of a tru Aussie supporter Jargan, now all you need to do is take off your bonds singlet whilst pissed and sunburnt in your stubbies and thongs and throw it at said offending team!

[Badger]

he wears blue bonds singlets and they're called wife bashers gigs

[jargan83]

I do not. I'm not a native of maddington