Ditch Jonny, Save Yourselves
Jonny Wilkinson Has Not Helped England's Awful Ways
If you’re England, it’s probably beginning to feel like you’ve just rolled over and continued a bad rugby nightmare. A narrow win over Italy has done little to quell fears of complete collapse – as this insightful piece from the UK Guardian shows:
Everything is relative. Thank goodness we can all sit around debating how awful England were, rather than await a chilling medical bulletin from a Cardiff hospital. Let us be eternally grateful that the Scotland wing Thom Evans did not, after all, suffer a more serious injury at the Millennium Stadium. Were he still lying motionless in bed with no feeling in his arms and legs, England’s shortcomings in Rome would be less than irrelevant.
Happily the medics say Evans should make a full recovery. Unhappily for Martin Johnson, the Six Nations Championship table may imply a blooming red rose but anyone who watched the 80-minute bore-athon in the Stadio Flaminio knows better.
Subtract Welsh generosity and Italian mediocrity from the equation and England could easily still be searching for their first win.
Maybe it would have done them good to lose to the Azzurri on Sunday, if only to inject more realism into the post-match platitudes. Maybe, behind closed doors this week, tough words will be spoken and even tougher decisions taken.
As things stand, though, England risk the steepest of descents. Even if they do emerge from their weekend torpor to see off Ireland and Scotland, they face a total wipeout at the hands of a resurgent France in Paris unless there is a radical change of tactics.
Should England finish second in the championship playing like zombies, it will confirm every southern hemisphere doubt about the tournament’s overall quality.
Sure, it did Johnson no favours that the Wales-Scotland game was such a humdinger or that France made such mincemeat of the grand slam champions. The snapshot of the Six Nations so far was Mathieu Bastareaud’s offload out of Brian O’Driscoll’s tackle for Clément Poitrenaud’s try. Talk about the changing of the guard.
Yet anyone who witnessed the Scots playing with massive precision, pride and passion, albeit without ultimate reward, could not fail to wonder why England seem incapable of doing likewise on a consistent basis. Dan Parks, the much-maligned Glasgow fly-half, had the game of his life while the so-called Killer Bs – Brown, Beattie and Barclay – were similarly outstanding.
The difference was that Scotland were brimful of intent and purpose while England again spent a large chunk of their 80 minutes painting by numbers.
To blame it all on Jonny Wilkinson would be harsh. He has bailed out his country around the world and his late drop goal on Sunday did so again. Slow ball can also make mortals of the greatest playmakers. Sometimes, though, you just wish the coaches would temporarily hand the goalkicking duties to someone else and tell Wilkinson enough is enough.
Either play flat on the gainline and take responsibility for putting your midfield into space, or accept the consequences at the next selection meeting. If the great man is merely playing to orders, rip them up and start again. If he cannot – or will not – take that giant leap of the imagination, it is time for someone else – Toby Flood? Shane Geraghty? Charlie Hodgson? Danny Cipriani? – to start at No10.
It is no good, either, wibbling on about lingering stomach bugs. If people were not fully fit, they should not have been starting. England’s issue is not physical but psychological. They talk a lot about freedom but play with the zest of men serving a life sentence.
A lot of visiting teams struggle to break down Italy but at least they set off with clear conviction. When opponents do not gift them points, England look painfully short of ideas and, as a direct result, invite trouble upon themselves.
Where are the forwards queuing up, like Beattie and Brown, to storm the gainline? Apart from Nick Easter and Simon Shaw, neither of whom is a spring chicken, there remains scant ball-carrying oomph beyond the set pieces.
Dan Cole is still settling into Test rugby but Lewis Moody, for all his selfless commitment and restart gymnastics, is not a creative openside in the mould of Martyn Williams. Without any momentum, Danny Care is effectively neutered and Wilkinson is even more inclined to retreat back into the pocket.
This, in turn, renders England predictable in attack and overreliant on the boot. It might win them the odd Six Nations dogfight but not a World Cup next year.
The missing ingredient, in short, is dynamism. It comes in many forms, not least leadership. If England really meant all that stuff about allowing players freedom of expression they have to replace words with action. If they risk defeat in pursuit of greater self-knowledge, so be it.
When Nick Mallett spoke of disappointment in Italy’s dressing room at not having beaten England, he was simply stating the obvious.
There will be further trouble ahead unless Johnson’s men heed such warnings. Perhaps England should reflect on the misfortune of Evans, a good friend of James Haskell’s, and remind themselves that life is not a rehearsal. Armed with a fresh perspective, they might just feel empowered to ditch their negative ways and spectacularly sidestep their critics.
With thanks to The Guardian
Attoub Banned for Gouging
David Attoub has been given a hefty ban for eye gouging. Stade Francais prop David Attoub has been banned for 70 weeks for gouging during the stormy Heineken Cup game against Ulster on 12 December.
The 28-year-old received the lengthy ban after being found guilty last week of making contact with the eye area of Ulster flanker Stephen Ferris.
Stade president Max Guazzini says Attoub will appeal against the ban.
The suspension, one of the longest in European rugby history for gouging, runs until 22 April 2011.
Judicial officer Jeff Blackett said in his judgement, “This is the worst act of contact with the eyes that I have had to deal with – it is a case of deliberate eye gouging which caused significant distress and some injury to the victim.”
“The sanction must be such to make other players stop and think before someone suffers a really serious eye injury,” said Blackett.
Blackett had adjourned Attoub’s hearing on 18 December, imposing an immediate interim suspension on the player, who was reported by match citing commissioner Tony Lanaway.
The adjournment was to allow for more evidence to be gathered after Stade cast doubt as to the authenticity of a photograph showing the incident.
The hearing was reconvened last week, when Blackett heard evidence from both Attoub and Ferris.
Ferris told the hearing that “the contact was very strong and extremely painful – the finger in my right eye was forced downward in a poking and gouging motion; it was someone trying to drive a finger as hard as he could into my eye socket and I could not prevent it”.
“It was this evasiveness which satisfied me that his account was less than truthful and that he knew that he had deliberately attacked the eyes of an opponent but was trying to evade responsibility.”
It is the second longest ban to have been handed out for a gouging offence in the professional era.
Dupuy was originally handed a 24-week ban before Christmas – with Ferris again having been on the receiving end – but that suspension was reduced by seven days following an appeal last week.
The former Leicester scrum-half Dupuy cannot play again until May and will miss the Six Nations Championship.
Courtesy of BBC Sport
HAVE YOUR SAY: Is this a fair punishment for Attoub?
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