England Were Right To Drop Wilkinson
by Mick Cleary | 19 March 2010 (09:48)
Too good to drop ? Or too famous to drop ? Martin Johnson rejected the word’ celebrity,’ when it was put to him about Jonny Wilkinson on Wednesday. ‘That’s the last word I would use in connection with Jonny,’ he spluttered. ‘ What about fame, then ? ‘ ‘ No, not that either.’ In the end Johnson accepted that fame was OK. That’s good of him. Fancy trying to teach a scribe about use of English. The point was this. Given Wilkinson’s celebrity, the ramifications of dropping him would extend far beyond the normal rugby territory. There would be a headline, a snapshot of him dropping the goal that won the cup etc, the adulation, the fame ( there’s that word again ), and everyone outside the camp would assume that this was curtains for England’s golden boy.
Johnson took the point, but rejected the notion that Wilkinson’s career was on the slide. He was right to do so, even if he was wrong in thinking that Jonny is what he once was. He’s not. If it had been any other player then there would have little fuss made. The story had huge significance; the reality far less so. Toby Flood is a decent player, the fly-half who helped trigger the finest performance in Johnson’s two years in charge when leading the back line in a rampage against France at Twickenham only 12 months ago. England led 34-0 after 42 minutes, five tries to the good. Flood can play a bit, just as Lewis Moody can. The Leicester back-row forward lost out last weekend to Joe Worsley for the game against Scotland. There was little uproar. And that’s how it should be this time around. Except that won’t be the case.
Wilkinson is an icon in English sporting circles, as much for what he did in helping bring the World Cup to Blighty in 2003, as for the manner in which he conducts himself. There is not a sliver of ego in him, not one little part of him that has any truck with celebrity and all that. Yet the more he shuns the bright lights, the more they follow him. They still do, despite the fact that he has decamped to the Med and lives a quiet life with his girlfriend just outside Toulon.
As he would, Wilkinson has made sure that he conducts himself properly, does all that he can to make sure that he integrates fully so that he gets the best from the experience. And so he has not only learnt French, he has pretty much mastered it, fluent in press conferences and the darling of the crowd.
He’ll be back. At what level remains to be seen. He has played so little consistent top-class rugby in the last seven years that it’s hard to see him really getting back to where he was in, say, 2002. Even in that 2003 World Cup tournament he was not at his best.
Being dropped will only spur him to greater efforts. He will be there on the England bench on Saturday night willing his friend, Toby Flood, to do well. That’s the type of guy that he is – selfless to his core. And for that he deserves our best.
If you want to read more of Mick Cleary go to www.telegraph.co.uk
