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Old 01-04-2007, 01:37 PM   #1 (permalink)
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Default Wilkinson set to miss Scotland clash

The 27-year-old was named in England's 33-man Six Nations squad on Tuesday.
"I don't think Jonny will be ready for the Scotland game," Steve Black told BBC Sport.
"It would be foolhardy to rush him back. He needs time to adjust to the playing environment. We need to get him back onto the field for Newcastle."
With Wilkinson unlikely to play, either Toby Flood or the uncapped Shane Geraghty - neither of whom has started a game for England - will be selected at fly-half against Scotland by new head coach Brian Ashton.
Wilkinson has not played for the Falcons since suffering a lacerated kidney on 3 November against Bristol.
He is joining in with fitness and skills sessions with his team-mates, but is yet to take part in full-contact sessions.
Black, who has worked with Wilkinson since he was 17, says the fly-half is making excellent progress.
"I work one on one with Jonny every day and he's determined, ambitious and in great nick.
"He was very sore and uncomfortable following the injury, but the soreness has subsided now.
"A fit Jonny Wilkinson is a major bonus to the England squad."
Wilkinson has not played for England since the 2003 World Cup final and has made only three starts for Newcastle this season.
He has been afflicted by injuries to his neck and shoulder, knee ligaments and kidney, but Black denies that Wilkinson will always be injury prone.
"This latest setback was a pure freak injury," Black said. "A whack to the kidneys is a boxing injury.
"It's a part of the body that's difficult to protect and is vulnerable, even for world champion boxers.
"Jonny is fit and strong and his recovery levels are high. And he's had a lot of practice at recovering."
Black also works with Flood at Newcastle and says the young fly-half has learnt a lot from Wilkinson.
"In rugby, as in life, you want to be with good, positive and ambitious people. Jonny Wilkinson would get a tick in all of those columns and Toby's certainly benefited from working with him."
If Wilkinson fails to make some kind of impact during the Six Nations the public will surely be asking questions over his inclusion in the squad when he is not fully fit. However only time will tell if Ashton's gamble will pay off.
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Old 01-14-2007, 07:03 PM   #2 (permalink)
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England need to move on. They need to use this time to develop Toby Flood into a world class fly half and not worry about Wilkinson, sure he was good, sure he was England's saviour but come on the guy hasn't played international rugby in over 3 years and has only played a handful of games in that time
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Old 01-29-2007, 12:31 PM   #3 (permalink)
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Wilkinson will never ever be the player he was.The sooner english rugby people realise that they can move on.Flood is a good player but their options are fairly limited considering they have such a big pool of players to pick from.Hodgson cant rise to big match pressure,although he is a good player.The fat lad at leicester is a joke and should be prop not fly half.Cant remember his name now
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Old 01-29-2007, 02:33 PM   #4 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 3 FEATHERS
Wilkinson will never ever be the player he was.The sooner english rugby people realise that they can move on.Flood is a good player but their options are fairly limited considering they have such a big pool of players to pick from.Hodgson cant rise to big match pressure,although he is a good player.The fat lad at leicester is a joke and should be prop not fly half.Cant remember his name now
Its Andy Goode, yes he is a good place kicker when the pressure isn't on, but he doesn't deal with pressure well, Iain Humphries is keeping him out of the Leicester side these days.

England have a dominant pack of forwards that could beat 3 of the sides in the 6 Nations but clearly they are around the 5th/6th best team in the world currently. The problem they have actually stems from this pack of forwards now. They give the fly half such an armchair ride that he doens't need to use his backline, however as the backs are only ever used to chase kick offs and to defend when given the oppurtunity they squander it. Also when the fly half is put under immense pressure when the pack isn't going to well he doesn't know what to do with it, this has been Hodgsons problem.

Now what are the options England have at fly half?

Flood
Goode
Geraghty

all untried and untested, it will be good to see how they cope when put under pressure in the 6 Nations
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Old 08-20-2007, 08:02 AM   #5 (permalink)
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