So Jonny Wilkinson has one bad half for England against Wales and suddenly people are calling for him to be dropped from the team which heads off to play Italy in Rome next weekend. It isn’t so much a case of short memories as complete amnesia.
I had to switch my television off 10 minutes before the end of England’s shock defeat to Wales in the Six Nations on Saturday evening, partly because I was off to see the Kite Runner at the cinema, but mainly because I was getting so annoyed with what was happening.
Yes, I cursed Jonny for losing the plot in the face of a Welsh onslaught, but I cursed everyone in a white shirt because, to be blunt, it was disgraceful how they capitulated under pressure.
There will be an inquest into how a team so dominant in the first half could made manage to lose the game in the second and so there should be, but why is Jonny getting all the blame?
He wasn’t the only one who crumbled and he wasn’t the worse culprit either. I’ll reserve that dubious award for Ian Balshaw, who really should be consigned to the international scrap heap after a series of woeful performances at full-back.
But, you see, there is a new kid on the block, a new golden boy of English rugby who has got everyone excited and Jonny is getting in the way of another media bandwagon from gathering pace.
His name is Danny Cipriani, he is just 20-years-old and he plays for the London-based Wasps. Without getting too carried away with perceived southern bias, there is no doubt that this young man is the new darling of the rugby world.
He is a maverick, creative and brave, as well as fearless and fresh-faced. Wilkinson may only be 27 still, but England’s record points scorer is old news, a member of the old guard and while he may have been the foundation for England’s rugby success for the best part of a decade, there are people out there who want to knock him down - mainly because they are bored of his trusty boot and the kicking game he represents.
If Wilkinson is one of those “once in a generation players� Cipriani belongs to the next generation and that is enough for some to begin pencilling Wilkinson’s international obituary.
Mind you, those same people will conveniently forget that young Cipriani was also on the pitch when Wales scored two second-half tries and that the new man failed to conjure up any sort of response once England had fallen behind.
I don’t doubt that, for the first time in his career - a bit like Michael Owen really - Wilkinson is fighting for his place. He is not an automatic selection, but he remains the best selection and one poor half does not change that.
Cipriani has made no secret of his desire to oust Wilkinson from the national side, but wanting to do something and having the ability to do it are two different things. Young people, and men in particular, want everything in a hurry but life doesn’t work like that, no matter how many supporters you have in a media pack searching for a new angle to write and talk about.
As for those with sharp tongues looking for a scapegoat, Wilkinson deserves to be criticised for failing to provide the leadership during the Welsh revival last Saturday and he should hang his head in shame at the dreadful pass which led to Wales’ first try, but he should not be hung out to dry when only a few months ago he was once again England’s hero at the World Cup.
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