The thing that irks me, and please note, I`m a South African, true blue and all that, is how this England team are now suddenly supposedly made up out of such poor players. FFS, Ashton`s had less than 12 months to sort through a thorough mess made by his predecessor. Then he had to go and impose his own style, personality and preferred style of play on the players. With so little time at his disposal, well it was always going to be a tough call to get them to perform optimally.
Anyone who thinks that the likes of Wilkinson, Easter, Rees, Robinson and Sheridan are not class players, must surely be smoking something. It`s almost like saying that the current Ireland side are playing with average players like Leamy, O`Driscoll, D`Arcy and O`Connell- all world-class in their own right, but just not performing in the team environment right now.
And a key ingredient in performing well as a team unit is just that- unity! If you have a bloke dragging down morale with statements like that, all I can say is: idiot.
