From the Touchlines: Worse to come for England?

England coach Brian Ashton's week could be set to go from bad to worse with a vital part of his England backline demoralised by a week of turmoil at club level.

Centre pairing Toby Flood and Jamie Noon - along with substitute Jonny Wilkinson - were hit with a further setback to the Scotland video nasty last weekend with Newcastle boss John Fletcher being removed of his duties at the club.

The news is particularly instrumental to Flood, whose mentor for the past 11 years has been Fletcher, and talking to the press yesterday it was all too apparent that Flood's confidence is shot to pieces. And at a time when new fly-half Danny Cipriani needs all the experience and guidance he can get, the man outside him hardly sent out a warning call to Ireland at the end of his chat with the press. His reasurring summary at the end of it all was: "I struggle to make my mark on games and more often than not end up in limbo".

Ireland's backline are hardly likely to be quaking in their boots with such sentiments and worse could be to follow for Ashton come Saturday.

Will it be a case of worse to come this weekend for Flood, Ashton and England? We want to hear your views so post your comments below...

Comments

[Dave]

I think it was totaly unfair to drop wilkinson on his own. 14 other players totaly underperformed against scotland, there was no pasion,no game plan it was as if they had never played together before and ashton must take the blame. its time for him to stand down

[JGriffin]

It just gets worse - and despite the fact that most average fans know that Rob Andrew should go, it's not going to happen. English rugby has been cursed by such people, in blazers and tracksuits, for ever. They have a stranglehold and short of a palace revolution, will never move.

[Hatty]

Give it a rest everyone. Ashton gets a hard time over the team's failings but I don't get the impression that he's been given sole control to do what he wants to do.

Rob Andrew's the one to blame and he's the one who's head should roll.

[john chalmers]

Hopefully Brian Ashton will have the courage to hang up his boots at the end of this sorry episode and let someone that cares about the team and with half an ounce of sense take over, then perhaps the england team will shine again.
Well you can always hope cant you

[ADV]

In any sport there are winners and losers. In competition it is even tighter - there is only one winner and no-one remembers runners up let alone wooden spoon teams. Within this framework must be the ability to draw on a strong field of players and a strong managerial/coaching team. There has to be keen competition for places and qaulity ion depth to draw on to replace players who under perform. Equally, the management/coaching team must have the expertise and experience to prepare and motivate the squad and final team. Two keys to this are motivating players and personal credibility. Ergo England with its wealth of high performing players in the top clubs have woefully under performed. Squad and team selection falls to the management team. Making players, no matter what they have done or have the potential to do, compete for their place is a MUST. Thus the greatest burden of expectation and responsibility rests with the management team. On this basis Ashton and Andrew should bow out. Wilkinson is where he should be - on the bench with a chance to redeem himself by sharpening his motivation tactical thinking and game overall.
Lets stop being precious and be realistic and pragmatic and make the best of the amazing pool of talent available to our under performing national team.

[Gord]

CAN'T WAIT FOR THE SIX NATIONS TO BE OVER. BORED OF JONNY THIS, ASHTON THAT!!!!

[Ruairi]

Wilkinson must be seething after the way he's been treated. Ashton will have a mutiny on his hands among the players before too long surely. He's doing his best to rile absolutely everyone in the squad and I don't imagine he's got a lot of allies there now. Enjoy your last game in charge...

[John]

Frankly...does anyone really care about the result against Ireland ?
All I care about is whether Mr. Ashton retains his job...I sincerely hope not.
Here's my prediction for the game anyway...England will get hammered!

[Phill Toddington]

Never thought I'd say this about an England team but I hope they get wiped off the park this weekend. At least then we may see Brian Ashton depart and someone with a few ideas take his place. Mind you with Rob Andrew to contend with we could end up with someone as clueless as the present coach.

[Taff]

they're professional sportsmen so it shouldn't matter if their club coach has done. it happens in footy often enough so just get on with it.

[bill d]

With so little success over the past decade, and with players having no experience against the top European sides, why are so many mediocre players selected from Newcastle Falcons. Top sides like Wasps,Gloucester, Leicester and Bath surely have more talented mid-field players than Noon, Tait, Flood - and may I add Wilkinson! With a surfeit of Newcastle players in the England side, it is the soccer equivalent to selecting most players in the national side from West Ham and Fulham! Does one detect the selecting hand of Andrew in the background?

[John Ballinger]

Saturday will end up being like the World Cup all over again. The players will pull out a stunning performance and Ashton will keep his job. I sort of hope it's a howler again and so he goes. I've had enough.

[Martin Gregory]

I cannot really understand why Flood is in the England starting line-up. He doesn't seem to have a clue what he's doing and, last I heard, he's injured his knee which means he's ok to play but he's removed as a kicking option which is plain stupid. There's plenty of other people who could do the job a lot better than him. Another bright idea by Ashton.

[Falcon]

What's wrong with flood's hair. looks like he's hit one of those van der graf generators!?!