OTHER SPORT
WHERE TO NOW FOR CROOK WILKO?
Jonny's injured again
By Henry Talbot
SOUTH AFRICA 58
ENGLAND 10
JONNY Wilkinson’s international career was in jeopardy last night after he once again trudged away injured from the action.
The Brittle One amazingly managed to avoid being KO’d by the Bloemfontein belly which left so many of England’s touring squad stricken since they arrived in the country.
But it was running into team-mate Roy Winters that left him looking as if he had been beaten over the head with a sledgehammer.
He had already needed lengthy treatment in the first half after a crunching hit from opposite number Butch James left him in a crumpled heap on the lush Vodacom Park turf.
England’s one-time golden boy appears to be fast becoming more of a liability than he is worth, considering his injury record since that wonderful World Cup-winning night in Sydney almost four years ago.
And, with chief rival Charlie Hodgson nearing full fitness after his knee problems, questions are already being asked whether this could be the last time Wilkinson pulls on an England shirt.
Adding to England coach Brian Ashton’s problems – long before the end of England’s worst-ever defeat on South African soil – was Iain Balshaw, who might have broken a shin.
While to make matters worse England lost one of their most dominant forwards, Andy Hazell, at half- time with knee ligament damage.
England, who have now lost their last seven away games, were by then out of the game thanks to some really basic errors which gifted the Springboks three tries.
Yet they had defended so well for the first 20 minutes. The Boks’ approach was quite simply based on forward power and wasn’t at all subtle – something England’s self-proclaimed Junkyard Dogs struggled to find an answer to.
Ashton fielded the oldest front row ever in Test history, with a combined age of 104, but they were blown away by Dean Carstens and BJ Botha and then Guthro Steenkamp and CJ van der Linde.
Mark Regan was the first at fault, over throwing for the first try scored by Ashwin Willemse and then Chris Jones’ needless pass gifted Bryan Habana an 80 metre interception.
England then turned over the ball in the Springbok 22 allowing Jean de Villiers to make Mike Brown and Balshaw look silly as he ran the ball back for the third try.
Whatever Ashton said to his shell-shocked troops after their torrid opening half appeared to work as England looked the better side for the opening 29 minutes after the break.
And they even managed to score a try made by the Newcastle Falcons trio of Wilkinson, Toby Flood and Mathew Tait for James Simpson-Daniel to score in the corner.
But within eight minutes the floodgates opened with England tiring and the Springbok taking full advantage – Schalk Burger, Francois Steyn, Habana with his second try and Van der Linde finding the time to take the score past the 50-point mark.
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