He kicked badly, but when he ran… beautiful to watch.

And he tackled like a lose forward

Yep, Im sure Wilko will keep his teams IN matches. But he’s also going to stop them winning others if he doesnt knock that Crab-step on the head that he’s got going now.

Wilko at 33 in 2011 will being held together by nuts’n'botls and a bit of chewing-gum. Dont put your house on it.

Dafas ? – ‘Safas’ !

Now Brent Russell was 1 player who was really dicked around by SARU. He was some talent, he would not have been discarded so quickly by other teams because he had unique skills not found in many. By no means the complete player but better than what was on show played out of position on too many occasions.

The Aussie teams are already FULL of Kiwis, Polynesians and Dafas. The Melbourne team is there to expand the Wallabies player pool, nothing else.

With regards to Wilko you forget what an impact he also on the 07 WC as well. Once he was in the England side, it was a completely different team. I missed the Eng/Arg game on the w end but saw Wilko against Aus last week and thought they were going to win after half time. He will only improve the more test rugby he plays and if injury free, he’ll have a big impact at the next WC.

Infact i see alot of SA players going over to Melbourne, mostly players being over looked by the Bok coach or young U19/20 players looking for a different life style and the chance to play for the wallabies!!

which would relegate many Legends of Rugby to the also-rans status on the strict RWC-only policy. Which renders it crap.

All credit to Wilko for winning the 2003 RWC. But youre in desperate waters if you still think he’s the same player in 2009. Put it this way, I havent seen DC play as poorly for the ABs as Wilko did vs Argies on Saturday, ever.

Carters only RWC as a 10 (‘07) was blighted by injury; unavail for 2 matches then subbed-off at HT in the QterF vs France with the same leg injury.

It would be fascinating to see Wilko in the S14/15. My guess is he would continue to kick well and tackle well, but that his running game and lack of instinctiveness would expose him in the higher skill-based and quicker SH game. His backs are hardly scoring freely for Toulon either.

Carter is the best around at the moment, I heard Jonothan Davies say the other day the mark of a good flyhalf is they always look like they have time, if you watch cater against wales even under pressure he looked like he had a spare 5 seconds to do what he wanted.

I think it would be a great idea if Wilkinson played in one of the super 14 teams actually i red he has always wanted to. I think any England back would benefit from playing a season down under its a pity the money factor will always come into it though.
There have been a lot of England players that have had a season in there younger years and have said it had a huge impact on there career, Martin Johnson, Simon Shaw, Peter Winterbottom, Julian White, Tom Palmer, kevin yates even Clive Woodward had a season in Aus.

I’m a big fan of both Carter and Wilko but must say that with all Carters class and brilliance he still hasnt stepped it up on the biggest stage yet. Thats where Wilko has a distinct advantage over him and with the World Cup just around the corner, a fit Wilko will make it an interesting tournament.

Thanks goodness we have a match winner in Morne for the tournament whose BMT can match Wilkos

Get them home.

G10 or BH, for eg, cant bring themselves to willingly state any NZer qualifies as the best in his position. Period.

There are others who are still living on Wilko version: 2002/03, when he was undoubtedly at his peak. Glimpses have been rare of that Wilko since but atleast he has had better luck with injuries since ‘07.

And it cant be argued that he looks fit and re-energised by his move to Toulon. And happy/human instead of intense/robotic. Thank God he eventually found that inner-balance, possibly thru his Buddhist faith. His articles for the Times still shortlist him for any ‘Most Boring’ sports awards going tho….zzzz

But Best 10 in World in 2009 ?

He is still a metronomically good goalkicker and the best tackling no10 on the Planet. But THE best placekicker ? No, thats probably Morne Steyn – an unbelievable year of accuracy and steel gonads – closely followed by DC, who has honed his radar considerably since the yips in 07/08.

But Wilko kicking the ball out of hand ? Mixed, at best, dire vs Argies and not dominating the current ‘kick-tennis’ we’re seeing every Test match this year.

But worst of all, Wilko has caught the debilitating Crab-step which means that he is trying to be a better running-10 (and being the Senior Player/Capt of the backs) but is mentally not there with the result that it has almost become like a tic, ie crabs with ball outside before passing to 12/13 giving them far less space and time on the ball than if he’d just spun it immed. Or gets caught and turned-over.

Theres no question who is the best 10 at the moment. For ‘most’ boxes ticked – placekicking; tactical kicking, running; decision-making; tackling – that would have to be Carter on current form. Incredible since he’s returned from a ruptured-archilles (G10, earlier this year, said “the inside-word from this bloke I know is that DC will never play again”). And Morne Steyn next, IMO, with Wilko peering over his shoulder. Hernandez is the choice of some but I personally believe he’s a considerably better 15 and too selfish at 10.

Because the Jonny Wilkinson-led backline is utterly clueless.

So how come they nearly saw their asses.