Is Jonny Wilkinson's time up?
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Robert Kitson analyses England's win over Italy and joins the voices questioning Jonny Wilkinson's inclusion in The Guardian.
“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.”
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