posted Jan 25, 2008

im sorry but this is complete rubbish, johhny wilkinson is debateably the best fly-half england have ever had, and dan cipriani will never even be a patch on him.

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posted Jan 25, 2008

cipriani has the potential to be better than wilkinson if he works on defence. he is a better attacking fly half and at the moment he has a better kicking percentage in the gp. no one will know haow much he has to work on his defence until he plays so start him against wales and see

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posted Jan 25, 2008

Lets just wait until Feb 29th and see what happens.

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posted Jan 26, 2008

'That victory against Australia, with hindsight, was nothing more than Mortlock's bad kicking and England's great forwards.

And the same kick and rush policy by Wilkinson in that game proved our downfall in the final.'

Rubbish, South Africa used exactly the same tactics and they won due to it - it wasn't there downfall. A limited England did the best they could in the circumstances. The tactics were right as it took the South African backs (especially a bloke called Habana) out of the match.

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posted Jan 26, 2008

Forget Cipriani, put in Toby Flood who once he is beefed up a bit is the true heir to the fly-half berth.

Anyway, for all we know Wilko could do a Mike Catt and be around till he is 36 and still be in very good form.

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posted Jan 27, 2008

getinthebath - got to disagree with you there mate.
South Africa showed exactly what they were capable of in early rounds, scoring a lot of tries, not to mention 36-0 against England.
In the final, they knew they had England, and that the lineout was the key. Its was almost embarassing, because instead of opening up as they could have done, they chose to take England on at their perceived strengths, and still won comfortably. It was the ultimate put-down. Play the opposition at their own game and still win.
They let England beat themselves, give away penalties, and kick away ball.
Which is exactly what Wilkinson did, along with the cynical but naive tactics of England's "grumpy, gnarly" forwards. Ha! Ha!
If we don't wake up to the fact that the old game is not going to win us the World Cup again,then we are going to eventually look very average indeed.
If Regan, Shaw, Gomarsall and Wilkinson all play on Saturday, what are we really saying? That there is no talent in English rugby coming through?
There are so many foreign hookers playing in England now, its no wonder Ashton is still selecting veterans.
What's happened to Titterall since he's been at Gloucester? Why is Kayser the only young hooker of note at Leicester? Muppets!

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posted Jan 27, 2008

mikeyphil- you clearly have no idea what you are talking about. wilkinson wasn't playing in the 36-0 defeat to SA that's why farrel kicked long to the SA back three. Cipriani might be a good test FH but not quite yet. Fatcentre made the point about our other backs. they also need to be creative. if cips plays against any of the teams in the 6N his defence is going to be found wanting and his "creativity" is going to be diluted. blooded too early might mean a matthew tait scenario again and it could take cips a while to recover. he's in the set up, that's good enough for now

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posted Jan 28, 2008

chopper - yeah, in the 36-0 drubbing he was "injured". Fat lot of help that is in the biggest game for England since the last world cup.
I believe Jason Robinson also played most of that game carrying an injury, and look at the inspiration he was. JW is just a fair weather performer. When the chips are down, he's goes AWOL.
And as for Cipriani being a Test fly-half. He never will be unless he is given a chance. Why isn't he ready. Because of his age? He's playing HC rugby (last season's final included) which is more than Wilkinson is doing, and he doesn't play like he's got a mental straight jacket on either.
Give the lad a chance or his enthusiasm and dynamism will have well and truly disappeared by the time he reaches 24 or 25, and we'll have ourselves another Rob Andrew/Wilkinson clone! God forbid!

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posted Jan 28, 2008

i said it once i'll say it again, you clearly have no idea what you are talking about mickeyphil.
wilkinson was injured, you concede that, having previously posted that he kicked the ball away in the game he missed through injury. you talk about robinson playing through injury while wilkinson goes awol with his injury? as if "injury" is a blanket term that some players choose to play with while others do not.
the last enthusiastic, dynamic player i remember given a chance too early was tait. it took him years to regain what was lost in 80 minutes of bad management. cipriani, in my opinion, will make the grade. just not yet. you dont just throw him on and hope his enthusiasm and dynamism see him through. they wont. he needs to nurtured at international level. his record at club level is good but i have seen him found wanting defensively a number of times. the weaker 6N teams would make him pay for that.

another wilkinson clone? that's right because he's done nothing for us. i hated seeing that ball sail between the posts in 03. i hated seeing entemac get dumped. i hated seeing the countless games in which he's carried our backline and given our forwards field position to play with.

give yourself a shake mikeyphil and get back to watching soccer

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posted Jan 29, 2008

Mickeyphil - comedian that pretends to know more than a flea's backside about rugby by spouting rubbish. Watch a match, any match, please. You may even be funny then rather than just so misinformed you could do a fair imitation of Colin Powell before going into the UN.

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