Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Steve James argues that Stuart Lancaster temper some of the more flambouyant characters in the England squad, such as Chris Ashton.
England must not just win; they must win with style and grace. As individual characters they have to become less disliked.
So, say, in the case of Chris Ashton, that is going to be some task. Again the truth can’t be as bad as the perception, but he has appeared to reveal the most remarkable ability to wind up almost anyone in contact with him, from opponents to, most recently, his own club, Northampton.
To read his good-idea-at-the-time book, Splashdown, is to pore over a defence of his actions to the people he has irritated.
From the Wales players when he appeared to celebrate Stephen Jones’s concussion, to Italy’s Gonzalo Canale over his silly try-scoring dive (“leave him alone, he’s an idiot,” his team-mate Toby Flood said, tellingly, of him), to Ronan O’Gara over a perceived lack of respect, to Manu Tuilagi, who thumped him so spectacularly last season.
Sadly the book was published too early for the latest hair-pulling incident at Leicester. Maybe Lancaster should ban that mocking Ashton dive, something Martin Johnson tried and failed. Now that would be a real statement of intent.
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