“England have no half-backs†is the quote that’s recently come from Eddie Jones. Interesting and thought provoking is my response. In some respects I’d agree with him. Personally I’m not totally convinced by Toby Flood. Sure, he’s put in some good performances over the last year or two and did perhaps deserve to take control of the starting 10 jersey â€" for a time.
Jones’ criticism points to a weakness of both Flood and Ben Youngs when playing on the back foot. True, this is probably the hardest part of the game â€" we all love to be on the front foot launching attack after attack â€" it would be so much easier don’t you think. So part of me tends to raise an eyebrow and think it’s just another tongue in cheek, Campese-esque dig.
But, when you think back to how England finished the 6 Nations most pertinently the loss in Dublin, you can kind of see his point. England, in key decision making area’s had no answer to turn around a game that was slipping from their grasp from start to finish. Lack of experience showed.
The solution, unimaginatively â€" Jonny Wilkinson (who’s www.jonnywilkinson.com website I’ve just seen â€" excellent!). Reports that life in France have given him a new lease of life seemed in fact to be true in the half hours he saw in the closing stages to each 6 Nations game.
While Jonny might not be the future, the World Cup is now, and right now Jonny Wilkinson is the most experienced man to hold a key decision making position.
England might not win this World Cup (in fact, they probably won’t), but at the very least they need to be competitive and reaffirm that they’re heading in the right direction.
So Eddie, I’ll take your point and mildly agree with you, but we do have a solution to the problem, and hope to be able to prove it to you too.
Jones’ criticism points to a weakness of both Flood and Ben Youngs when playing on the back foot. True, this is probably the hardest part of the game â€" we all love to be on the front foot launching attack after attack â€" it would be so much easier don’t you think. So part of me tends to raise an eyebrow and think it’s just another tongue in cheek, Campese-esque dig.
But, when you think back to how England finished the 6 Nations most pertinently the loss in Dublin, you can kind of see his point. England, in key decision making area’s had no answer to turn around a game that was slipping from their grasp from start to finish. Lack of experience showed.
The solution, unimaginatively â€" Jonny Wilkinson (who’s www.jonnywilkinson.com website I’ve just seen â€" excellent!). Reports that life in France have given him a new lease of life seemed in fact to be true in the half hours he saw in the closing stages to each 6 Nations game.
While Jonny might not be the future, the World Cup is now, and right now Jonny Wilkinson is the most experienced man to hold a key decision making position.
England might not win this World Cup (in fact, they probably won’t), but at the very least they need to be competitive and reaffirm that they’re heading in the right direction.
So Eddie, I’ll take your point and mildly agree with you, but we do have a solution to the problem, and hope to be able to prove it to you too.
