Wilkinson named England captain.

[thingy]

Rugby World Cup hero Jonny Wilkinson has been named as England captain for three Test matches in November.

Wilkinson, who takes over from Lawrence Dallaglio, will lead England in matches against Canada, South Africa and Australia.

The Newcastle fly-half was named to the job by caretaker coach Andy Robinson, who took over last month after Clive Woodward resigned.

"There are several players in the squad I would feel comfortable in calling upon to be England captain, but for me Jonny is in every way the right player to take on this challenge," Robinson said.

"He is a natural leader, holds the respect of the whole squad, is a formidable talent on the pitch and consistently demonstrates the energy and commitment I feel is essential to be captain of England."

Source: RugbyHeaven (http://rugbyheaven.smh.com.au/articles/2004/10/05/1096871825512.html).

[thingy]

I have no idea what Captaining experience he has, but isn't he a bit young for the job? I thought he might have had too much pressure on him too with his position & kicking duties as well. Seems especially harsh on him when he hasn't played for 10 months due to injury. Best of luck to him, he's a brilliant player and should be perfect to hold the England team together. Here's hoping England come back from their slump in the upcoming matches against South Africa and us. Their last tour was a great dissapointment.

[kré]

he might as well be the captain, since he is basically the whole team.

[dozer]

they shaft their coach and loose most of their top players, and now we have to put up with them whineing about the last world cup.

good luck to johnny, hopefully they will change the rules to reward kicked goals what they are worth.

[Pagey]

negative 3 for being such a pansy arsed faggot. have a go and try to score a try! SOFT!

[NastyButler]

It's all well and good to give the best (glory hog:) ) player the capataincy but with him being injured all of the time and after losing a lot of experianced players in a small time period they should have stuck with someone who is more likely to be there for more games.

[dozer]

hes had his operation and back playing now

[NastyButler]

hes had his operation and back playing now
Yeah, but in such an important player who is targeted every game is never far away from the scalpal. :(

In the huge season England had, including the tour to Aus and NZ and the WC, Nick Farr-Jones said he was having painkilling injections before every game. He'll really need his v/c's to stand up if he can't keep mind clear.

[dozer]

they have a completely new lineup and coach now you cant really compare them to the world cup side, im betting the will be coming last in the upcoming series, and ill make sure im on the sideline to watch.

[Peach]

they shaft their coach and loose most of their top players, and now we have to put up with them whineing about the last world cup.

good luck to johnny, hopefully they will change the rules to reward kicked goals what they are worth.

Sir Clive is a grumpy old fart, who wants to try his hand as a football coach. I think it's a shame for the team, but I'm not sad he's gone.

I don't blame the players for leaving, they were all coming towards the end of their careers and probably would never achieve as much again. Most of them only gave up on international games, which is a strong hint that they thought it unlikely they'd win the world cup again.

I'm not sure if it was a case of Johnny be the best man for the job, or just being the only one that people recognised.

[ajcrowley]

hardly matters at the moment, no one really gives a toss about the results for the next two years if your building a new team, the biggest loss was Martin Johnson but he was always gonna be too old for the next RWC. look how good the All blacks were until they played a game that was worth something. Jonny will do ok but i think the captain ought to be able to bang a few heads together when needed. england are stuffed at the moment though, the games biggest problem will always be the club vs country battle but that aside i would only select players who are gonna be young enough for the next world cup even if it means copping a flogging early on.

[dozer]

i think clive was pretty much shafted out of the job, looks like theres a fair bit of fighting off the field and behind the scenes.

theres more to rugby than just the world cup, but i agree thats what they should be aiming for, and it looks like thats what they are planning. seems the crap off the field is what wil hold them back rather than what happens on, including who they are allowed to pick etc.