Cipriani: Wasps and England star targets an October return

Martin Johnson - in the full public gaze - will attempt to metamorphose from great captain into great manager. He has the extra time the previous coaches wanted and, if he gets Danny Cipriani back fit by the end of October, someone to ignite their play.

Stuart Barnes
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Stuart Barnes is back to preview the new rugby union season - and answer YOUR questions!

Got a question for Stuart? Email him here or use the feedback form below.

Whatever your rugby tastes, there has to be something that takes your fancy this coming season.

The Premiership starts with the bang it lacked in last season's World Cup year (not that the rugby was bad or the interest in the young players negligible) and an anticipated crowd of 50,000 for the London double-header.

Even with international call-ups rifling the resources of some of the leading clubs, the strength in depth makes this fascinating. Much as it upsets the Test-obsessed nations of the Southern Hemisphere, the weekly devotees of the club game have much to savour.

Nick Evans has the potential and explosive pace to be one of the most exciting signings of the season for Harlequins, while Chris Latham will do for Worcester what Matt Burke has done for Newcastle and set a magnificent example to the younger players like Miles Benjamin.

Whether the less glamorous but highly effective Greg Somerville can add some extra technique and bite to the once forward-based temple that was old Kingsholm will be equally intriguing, if perhaps more for the forward connoisseur.

Young talent

It is not all Southern Hemisphere blood that has the juices flowing. Will Ben Foden make his mark as a regular scrum half with Northampton and what about Chris Ashton?

Rob Andrew is right to bring the curtain down on RFU expenditure on high risk league signings but I wonder whether the Saints signing of young Chris Ashton is the way union will target the best of league - by looking for young and (relatively speaking) cheaper talent.

He scored buckets of tries in the First Division but the way he scored them and the balance of his running makes me think he is destined for the very top of the union code.

Dan Carter will add even more interest to the burgeoning Heineken Cup where Munster will have to adapt to life without the supremely astute Declan Kidney, whose progress with Ireland will be intriguing.

Then there is Martin Johnson, the great captain who - in the full public gaze - will attempt to metamorphose into the great manager. He has the extra time the previous coaches wanted and, if he gets Danny Cipriani back fit by the end of October, someone to ignite their play.

Shaun Edwards says he cannot wait for Wales to take on the Springboks in the autumn; the Six Nations follows in the New Year, and then, of course, the Lions in South Africa. For the traditionalists among you this is as big for Britain and Ireland as a World Cup.

Will Brian O' Driscoll rediscover his form and make the trip as skipper? Will Paul O' Connell fulfil his huge talent? Will Ryan Jones lead the Lions for Wales? And can Shane Williams get any better? All these questions; I cannot wait for the weekend and with it, the ELVS: of course I had not forgotten!

The IRB have been repelled with only 13 of the 33 recommended ELVS in place. I have reservations but also an intense interest to see how coaches adapt: which coaches will continue to maul and maul at pace now that defenders can 'pull down', not 'collapse', the maul; defensive teams that trust one man to act as wrecking ball could have to reassess if someone like Dean Richards works out a rapid Harlequins driving technique, for example.

We will see some random kicking with the receiver unable to pass back into the 22 for his helper to clear the ball up field. Amidst the dross of poor kicking there will be issues of new-found importance.

Protocols and policing

The tactically astute kickers will exploit wings without the technique to put boot to ball. Will the suave counter attack kings like James Simpson Daniel be exploited by a smart chase game or will the ELVS force him into rounding his game as Jason Robinson once did?

How much will not straight quick line outs speed the game up and what impact will unlimited numbers in line outs have on the old set piece? And the scrum, with defenders (and attackers) back five metres from the rear foot; it seems a licence for tries for the teams with a strong scrum and a pacy back line (it downgrades, too much for my taste, the dextrous skill of the midfield distributors with the ability to open up watertight defences) and makes try scoring too easy - or it should but let us see.

Watch out as well for the 'protocols', which could be far more significant than the more heralded ELVS.

'Sealing off' at the breakdown is going to be far more vigorously policed with players going off their feet and landing 'accidentally' between the ball carrier and the opponent - be that the second defender there or the first support attacker.

In theory it means the support players must stay on their feet, drive past the ball and free the possession for the scrum half or first man to the breakdown; this was once known as rucking.

If the sport can turn the clock back to those days, we will have an end to the clever but tedious clock-counting morasses as masterfully exemplified by Munster in last year's Heineken Cup final: Hooray to that!

Let us hope the referees and their assistant referees will get more right than wrong and we end up talking players and not lawmakers. With that wish I am off to this week's mail...

Good to be back,

Stuart

Stuart answers your e-mails...

Got a question for Stuart? Email him here

UNBREAK MY HEART
Dear Stuart, as a Gloucester fan I'm looking forward to another season, but dreading more heartbreak in the play-offs. I'm starting to worry that it might become a problem mentally for our players. Do you think the club will be able to recover psychologically from yet another disappointment last season? Why do you think we don't look as good in one-off matches as we do in the league? Robert Davidson

STUART SAYS: Robert, only this morning I have just written a Rugby World piece on the very subject of Gloucester as a consistent force versus Gloucester as a one-off losing force. The team has talent but it has to prove it has the temperament. Dean Ryan is a great believer in performance counting more than results and in many ways I concur but once a team reaches a certain level I wonder if this philosophy excuses defeat, whereas Wasps' fear of failure drives them beyond performance levels to doing what has to be done to win; the same applies to Munster and once did to Leicester. Maybe Dean needs to be harder on the team to see who can handle the pressure? It is an interesting conundrum, isn't it?

WILK HE OR WON'T HE?
Dear Stuart, I'm fast beginning to believe that we are missing a trick with Wilkinson. In Cipriani we have the No. 1 fly half for England (injury aside). In Flutey at inside centre we have a reserve player who can step up to the mark, and in Wilkinson we also have a reserve fly half. My thoughts are where does that leave Wilkinson? Fly half position is gone (Cipriani), inside centre gone (Flutey); to me, Wilkinson would be an ideal at fullback for England. What does he provide? Experience of the highest quality and pressure games, defensive tackling ability, defensive and attacking kicking, reserve place kicking, drop goal and positional kicking, attacking ability (as a member of a back three), respect from players, coaches and opposition, and someone who can step up into fly half and offer us a three-pronged fly half attack, plus positional knowledge. We are scratching around for a player in that position, there are some on the way but no one who has really impressed or set down their name (as did Lewsey in his prime). The last point is one of precedent, we need lok no further then Neil Jenkins, I seem to remember that he was a fairly good player. Wilkinson is too good to leave out but does not have the flair of Cipriani. He provides and has all the necessary qualities so perhaps this may be the way forward for an England team that needs to move forward and develop but a team that still needs to keep some stability in the form of old heads that can calm, guide, support and control a game and the players around them. Simon Read

STUART SAYS: Simon, you make such a good case that I almost got on the phone to Martin Johnson immediately. All you say is true but selectors have to assess negatives as well as positives. So putting on that hat, here goes: the position covers more open space than any other and requires great experience to play there. Jenkins got away with it against muddle-headed opponents. Wilkinson would be vulnerable tactically and beneath the high ball. As a defender he actually misses a surprisingly large number of tackles on nimble backs but we forget this because of the memorable, mesmeric batterings he has dished out to giant forwards over the years. Most of the tackles he would have to make from full back would be of the former nature and, finally, Cipriani's gift is to release backs into space via a combiantion of his own threat and his aggressive alignment. Wilkinson lacks the pace to exploit the Wasps attacking thrust. These are the negatives but until someone makes the position his own I would not demur from giving the positives he would bring - as you so cogently state - a firm consideration.

YOU PLAY, WE PAY
Stuart. What do you think of the RFU's scheme to give clubs money if they develop young English talent? Do you think it will have a positive impact on the England team in the near future? Thanks, Mike Latchem

STUART SAYS: Mike, developing England players has worked for Wasps and the individuals involved and quite rightly; while internationals clash with Premiership fixtures the clubs deserve recompense but if that means Wasps wish to sign three 50-year-old Tongans while Rees, Haskell and Sackey are with England, so be it. The issue here is getting the balance right between the importance of club and country. Call me a fence sitter but I come down 50/50. I just wish more people whose idea of rugby is little more than the international season would realise the heartbeat of the game is at club level and not expect the clubs to always be the ones to give - often at the expense of the hardcore rugby fans who have either the Warriors or Sharks habit. The financial arrangement is important but really a sideshow. England has failed because of internal reasons, not the clubs, these last few years.

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