Wilkinson axed by Ashton

Fly-half pays the price for Scotland loss

By Tony Curtis   Last updated: 11th March 2008

Wilkinson England missed tackle Scotland

Wilkinson: Down and out

Related links

Teams

Players

Also see

England coach Brian Ashton has axed Jonny Wilkinson from his starting line-up to face Ireland at Twickenham on Saturday.

Wilko and out - Your view

The Newcastle No.10 has paid the price for a poor performance against Scotland and is replaced by Danny Cipriani

It is the first time in his career Wilkinson has been dropped to the bench after 69 caps - however he has been a shadow of the player that struck fear into the heart of the opposition, despite breaking the world points scoring record against Murrayfield.

The call-up of Cipriani completes a remarkable turnaround with the Wasps starlet axed from the original starting XV to face Scotland after being photographed leaving a nightclub in the early hours.

Wilkinson's absence is the only change to the line-up that lost so poorly to Scotland, with Iain Balshaw and Lesley Vainikolo spared.

That means Mathew Tait has to settle for a place on the bench, while Wasps flanker James Haskell also misses out on a spot in the starting XV after recovering from injury.

England: 15 I Balshaw (Gloucester), 14 P Sackey (Wasps), 13 J Noon (Newcastle), 12 T Flood (Newcastle), 11 L Vainikolo (Gloucester), 10 D Cipriani (Wasps), 9 R Wigglesworth (Sale Sharks), 1 A Sheridan (Sale Sharks), 2 L Mears (Bath), 3 P Vickery (Wasps capt), 4 S Shaw (Wasps), 5 S Borthwick (Bath), 6 T Croft (Leicester), 7 M Lipman (Bath), 8 N Easter (Harlequins).
Replacements: 16 G Chuter (Leicester), 17 M Stevens (Bath), 18 B Kay (Leicester), 19 J Haskell (Wasps), 20 P Hodgson (London Irish), 21 J Wilkinson (Newcastle), 22 M Tait (Newcastle).