Jonny Wilkinson runs into Toby Flood barrier as he is dropped

This is not where Martin Johnson hoped England would be on the concluding day of the RBS Six Nations Championship: fielding a refurbished back division against unbeaten France in Paris, dropping his one iconic player, Jonny Wilkinson, to the replacements’ bench and crossing his fingers that a shock success will add a little lustre to a disappointing season.
Nor does Johnson, the England team manager, yet know whether his captain will make it as far as the Stade de France on Saturday. Steve Borthwick’s left knee is giving serious concern and two specialists have offered opinions, one negative, the other positive. Borthwick is keeping it in a protective brace for 48 hours and he will be assessed again today, with Louis Deacon and Tom Palmer, the Stade Français lock, on standby.
But at the end of the championship, there is as creative a look about England’s backs as there seemed at the start against Wales, even though only three players have survived from that opening victory.
Toby Flood has the onerous task of taking over from Wilkinson at fly half, a role delegated only twice before, to Paul Grayson in the 1999 World Cup quarter-final against South Africa and Danny Cipriani against Ireland in 2008.
Indeed, Wilkinson, who has mixed some outstanding play with some indifferent execution, will learn to steer clear of future Calcutta Cup matches. Two years ago, he established a world record for career international points against Scotland, but England lost and he was dropped. During last Saturday’s draw at Murrayfield, he passed Ronan O’Gara’s record for points scored in the Six Nations and has suffered the same fate.
“Jonny took a number of heavy knocks against Scotland but we’re happy to pick Toby,” Johnson said. “We need two players in every position and Toby suffered something similar last week, after taking a blow to the head while playing for his club. We’re lucky to have two guys who can play so well at 10, we will need them going forward to next year’s World Cup.
“You can see Toby growing as an on-field general and ball player. He’s not as experienced as Jonny, but he’s played in a World Cup final. He is graduating into that sort of leadership role in the team as he gets more experience. He needs more game time in that position over the next 18 months, but if I thought Jonny was in decline, I wouldn’t have picked him in the last seven internationals.”
Wilkinson is only one of seven changes (one positional) from the team that played out a drab 15-15 draw against Scotland and can finish no higher than third in the championship.
There is a first cap on the wing for Chris Ashton, whose first representative appearance in rugby league four years ago was on the winning side against France at Headingley, and a 61st appearance for Mike Tindall, who makes up the same midfield trio (with Flood and Riki Flutey) that functioned so well against France at Twickenham last year.
Ben Foden makes his first international start at full back and will look for good ball from a pack strengthened by the return of Simon Shaw at lock while Lewis Moody, having been dropped one week, returns at open-side flanker, with Joe Worsley displacing James Haskell on the blind side.
If Borthwick withdraws, Deacon will be his replacement, although Johnson was coy about naming a replacement captain. Tindall would be one candidate, Nick Easter another, but England’s state at the end of a demanding campaign is such that David Flatman and Hendrik Fourie joined training yesterday to allow Tim Payne and sundry back-row players to rest.
Scotland named an unchanged XV to play Ireland at Croke Park on Saturday, although amendments to the bench bring in Richie Gray for the injured Nathan Hines, Mike Blair for Rory Lawson and Alasdair Dickinson for Geoff Cross. Simon Taylor, the former Scotland No 8, is to join Bath on a three-year contract after three seasons with Stade Français.
England (to play France at Stade de France on Saturday): B Foden (Northampton); M Cueto (Sale Sharks), M Tindall(Gloucester), R Flutey (Brive), C Ashton (Northampton); T Flood(Leicester), D Care (Harlequins); T Payne (London Wasps), D Hartley (Northampton), D Cole (Leicester), S Shaw (London Wasps), S Borthwick (Saracens, captain), J Worsley (London Wasps), L Moody (Leicester), N Easter (Harlequins).Replacements: S Thompson (Brive), D Wilson (Bath), L Deacon (Leicester), J Haskell (Stade Français), B Youngs(Leicester), J Wilkinson (Toulon), M Tait (Sale Sharks).
Source:The Times