Flying wing Ashton shows that England are ready for take off

Did you follow our tip last week to back England wing Chris Ashton as the tournament’s top try-scorer in the Six Nations?

Two games down, with three to go, and surely no one else can even match the six tries high-flying Ashton has already accumulated, following the four – a one-match record in the Six Nations – that he scored at Twickenham last Saturday in the slaughter of Italy?

Ashton’s defiance of coach Martin Johnson’s order to touch the ball down safely before launching his high-flying celebration has excited the media. Johnson laughed it off publicly, but he will have got his point across to Ashton in the confines of England’s training camp this week.

Ashton is following a path trodden by Shane Williams, both in the way he tracks ball-carriers rather than stay on his wing and in the manner he celebrates before scoring.

Johnson will be paternal to Ashton rather than severe, mindful of not deflating a player who has illuminated the 2011 Six Nations.

England are playing with a swagger and while they are unlikely to meet opponents as obliging as Italy as they plot their way to a first Six Nations title for eight years, there is an air about them last scented when Johnson was a player, captaining the side to a 2003 Grand Slam and then the World Cup.

It has been a long road for Johnson the manager. It started in the autumn of 2008 and progress was slow, but England became a team that was difficult to beat. Every advance seemed to be followed by either a sideways or backward movement, usually related to key and impressing personnel suffering long-term injury set-backs.

Even a year ago there was little sign of the bravura with which they are now playing. Like this year, there were opening victories against Wales and Italy. But these were followed by a draw and two defeats.

It was in France in the final day of the 2010 Six Nations, when Ashton was on the wing (albeit the left) and Ben Foden was at full-back that the new England emerged. Jonny Wilkinson was on the bench that evening in Paris and it is where he has remained: the player who for so long was integral to the way the men in white played in a deliberate and low-risk style.

This season, Toby Flood has finally ended the outside-half debate. Johnson has not been kneejerk in his selection and he has not been afraid to trust in youth: Ashton, Ben Youngs, Dylan Hartley, Dan Cole, Courtney Lawes and Tom Wood have all been brought through with Alex Corbisiero starting against Italy. The 2011 World Cup may be too soon for some of these, but they will all be battle-hardened by 2015.

England are, in terms of attacking play, well ahead of the rest of the Six Nations. Unlike France, they do not rely on turnover possession to expose defences and in both their matches so far, they have run out of their own 22 from the kick-off.

Kicking out of hand has become a last resort. They will probably not play as much from their own territory against France next weekend when the tournament resumes after a one-week breather, but two years ago they surprised Les Bleus with their adventure and scored 29 points in the opening half.

Johnson’s men are now regarded as one of the favorites for the World Cup. They will go to New Zealand in the fall looking to become the first team to reach three successive finals.

The coming weeks may be revelatory. If England go to Dublin on the final weekend on the trail of the Grand Slam, it could be a repeat of 2003.

One thing that is certain: England’s first-choice No10 in the France and Ireland games will not be Wilkinson, a thought that seemed impossible until recently for the man whose dropped goal sealed the 2003 World Cup win.

Martin Johnson vexed the French clubs a year ago when he refused to release players from his England squad during a fallow weekend in the Six Nations. He has been more amenable this week, with Wilkinson has been released to play for Toulon against Agen.

Wilkinson may not be indispensable to England’s cause as he was up to 2003 and in 2007, but the sight of him warming-up is still enough to unnerve opposing teams. After barely 40 minutes of rugby over the past fortnight, Johnson will still be hoping that the notoriously fragile Wilkinson returns to his squad come Monday morning in one piece.

Related posts:
Rugby - Italy on Flood alert as Ashton bids to try and try again for England (James Payton) 0
Rugby - Johnson opts to stick with his tried and trusted England squad (James Payton) 0
Rugby - Outsiders Italy could land first big upset of Six Nations (James Payton) 0
Rugby - Wilkinson’s England career could be over if he stays at Toulon (James Payton) 0
Rugby - World champions South Africa are England’s final test (James Payton) 0

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