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Wilkinson escapes citing over Thomas tackle
Mitch Phillips
5th February, 2008
7
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Mitch Phillips
5th February, 2008
7
1770 Reads

England flyhalf Jonny Wilkinson will not be cited for a tackle that floored Jonathan Thomas and led to the flanker leaving the pitch in Saturday’s Six Nations defeat by Wales.

Wilkinson, who denied making the challenge, appeared to catch the flanker’s head in the 13th minute of the match but Wales made no protest and the BBC reported that he would face no action.

“There has been speculation that it was my tackle that led to it. I feel that it was not my tackle and I would add that it is always very sad to see a player going off injured,” Wilkinson wrote in his column in Monday’s Times newspaper.

“I stand firmly against foul play in the game. It has never been my desire or intention to be involved in anything like that and neither will it ever be.”

The 26-19 defeat was one of Wilkinson’s more forgettable international performances and he did not try to dodge the criticism.

“I would be on another planet if I wasn’t aware of a little of the post-match talk,” he said.

“When you are playing at flyhalf, you are obviously in the spotlight. If you help to make things happen and they go well, you get a lot of credit and if they don’t, you take the heat. I never bought into the credit, I’ve always said a rugby victory is a 15-man victory and it’s a 15-man game when we lose, as well.

“That’s not to say that I shirk responsibility. I know I was involved in some passages of play on Saturday which I wish I had executed differently. Early on, I thought I directed the game quite well, but in the second half, I did a couple of things which put us under more pressure rather than less.

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“The idea was right, but the execution wasn’t. The problem we had was that these mistakes snowballed.”

Wilkinson handed Danny Cipriani, his flyhalf understudy, an unwelcome start to his international career when he lofted a poor pass to the debutant for his first touch after coming on as a replacement.

The subsequent chaos led to Wales’s first try as they set about their remarkable comeback victory, their first at Twickenham for 20 years.

“Danny Cipriani had just come on, he has two great feet and he had more space and time than I did,” Wilkinson said.

“Outside him was Paul Sackey and, between the two of them, I thought maybe we could have had a mismatch out wide.

“As I saw it, it was a no-lose decision. Wales were flying up on me, but not outside, where Danny and Sacks were. I saw that the Welsh were moving up on me so quickly, I thought I needed to get the ball away quicker and that’s why I misjudged the weight of the pass.

“Wrong execution, but the decision? These are decisions you make throughout a game. We’re in that England team because week in, week out you are making those decisions productively and positively.”

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England face Italy on Sunday but will be without centre Mike Tindall, who is out for the whole tournament, winger David Strettle and flankers Tom Rees and Lewis Moody, all of whom suffered injuries on Saturday.

Coach Brian Ashton is due to name his team on Tuesday.

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