Wilko magic sinks Scots
3 Feb 2007
Jonny Wilkinson made a triumphant return to Test rugby as England thrashed Scotland 42-20 at Twickenham on Saturday.
Wilkinson, who last wore the red rose in the 2003 World Cup final and was selected on the back of 40 minutes for Newcastle, looked like he’d never been away, scoring a try and kicking five penalties, two conversions and a drop goal for a 27-point haul. When he was substituted in the 73rd minute, he left to a standing ovation from the 80,000 crowd.
Former England coach Andy Robinson wrote in his weekend newspaper column that he would not have selected Wilkinson so soon. Perhaps it’s time Robinson (who lost eight out of his last nine Tests) saved himself further embarrassment by getting out of the public spotlight immediately.
Jason Robinson, meanwhile, scored two tries in his first Test since retiring from international rugby two years ago. The winger was dangerous with ball in hand, and will be a valuable member of England’s World Cup squad.
Scotland looked good early on, and took a 10-6 lead after 23 minutes when Simon Taylor scored. However, the Scots had to wait until the 76th minute to get over again when replacement Rob Dewsey grabbed a consolation try.
England – Tries: Jason Robinson (2), Jonny Wilkinson, Magnus Luund. Conversions: Jonny Wilkinson (2). Penalties: Wilkinson (5), Drop goal: Wilkinson.
Scotland – Tries: Simon Taylor, Rob Dewey. Conversions: Chris Paterson (2). Penalty: Paterson.

44 Comments
3 Feb 2007, 18:53 pm
Who Gives Tos, they will still lose lol.
3 Feb 2007, 18:57 pm
Dammit, England in front….
3 Feb 2007, 19:53 pm
dan is still the man . welcome back jonny
3 Feb 2007, 20:01 pm
DUOH ha ha
3 Feb 2007, 20:10 pm
Japies have an irrational dislike for the England rugby team. But I can see England thrashing SA AGAIN at the next world cup.
Remember that even when England were down and out and at their worst last year, they STILL managed to beat SA.
3 Feb 2007, 20:26 pm
England could not have asked for a better start to the year in which they face SA three times and must defend their World cup title.
ENGLAND ARE BACK. CLASS IS PERMANENT.
3 Feb 2007, 20:43 pm
Well done my son.Wilko is a great player and IMO a great guy (from the interviews I’ve seen anyway).
3 Feb 2007, 20:54 pm
A GREAT WEEKEND for English sport – an ANNIHILATION of Australia in cricket and now a good start to the six nations. THE POMS ARE BACK……..ST Michael is smiling and South Africans should be AFRAID
3 Feb 2007, 21:05 pm
Well, the game will be richer with him than without him. One of the true characters and maybe not a legend, but almost.
3 Feb 2007, 21:16 pm
Lets wait till they play ireland, france and wales
3 Feb 2007, 21:21 pm
A nice return for Bliiy Whizz (Jason Robinson) too with two tries.
Ok back to Wilko. he has now scored a fullhouse (score in all ways possible in one match) against SA I think – I know Wales and New Zealand and now Scotland. I think he did Italy too.
How many players can say that ?
3 Feb 2007, 21:22 pm
# 10
BokkeForever–oink12 didnt those teams just beat
your Bokkies ?
3 Feb 2007, 21:28 pm
woohoo for johnny!
3 Feb 2007, 21:36 pm
woohoo for wp_chic
Jealousy makes you nasty
3 Feb 2007, 21:36 pm
what jealousy?
3 Feb 2007, 21:53 pm
Johnny greatest flyhalf in the world
maybe ever
aussies are pommies???
u mean aussies are criminal pommies
3 Feb 2007, 21:54 pm
at least u call em criminal pommies.. i call em those damn convicts
3 Feb 2007, 22:02 pm
If Wilko can stay fit for a year or two he’ll push Carter,but not get the better of him.
3 Feb 2007, 22:09 pm
Johnny is better than Carter anyday of the year
in any country
3 Feb 2007, 22:09 pm
rich, you and i agree completely
3 Feb 2007, 22:10 pm
wpchic we have enuf convicts in South Africa to go around the world
3 Feb 2007, 22:11 pm
so chic why u going to bed so early?
u never did
3 Feb 2007, 22:13 pm
orientation started and i need sleep! without my 8 hours im completely awful
3 Feb 2007, 22:16 pm
lol 8 hours beauty sleep hey
email me sumtime i lost urs
promise not to talk religion
3 Feb 2007, 22:18 pm
sure
and its not so much beauty sleep as its is..mental preparation for the next day
3 Feb 2007, 22:32 pm
that sounds like really hard work
im not into preparation
3 Feb 2007, 22:48 pm
16
….and saffas are ‘bashed by pommies’.
3 Feb 2007, 22:51 pm
Rich
Yes you boys take it from the pommies anytime, anywhere and all the time.
Time for the saffas to be the man in the relationship; can you do it?
3 Feb 2007, 22:58 pm
what medication are u on wallabie??
im explaining to aussiesarepommies that
aussies *** from criminal pommies.
Its not an opinion its just a fact
4 Feb 2007, 00:07 am
jonny greatest flyhalf ever ? you must be RICH in dellutions .
4 Feb 2007, 00:39 am
ok so who has ever been better???
4 Feb 2007, 00:44 am
rich
sorry i should have not said that , everyone is entitled to their opinion .
4 Feb 2007, 06:33 am
Jonny the best? don’t think so. I think he would be behind at least ten other guys for that title.
top 3
01.Larkham
02.Botha
03.John
4 Feb 2007, 08:10 am
Gerber
1. Phill Bennett
2. Barry John
3. Mark Ella
4. Guy Camberabero
5. Hugo Porta
6. Naas Botha
7. Johnny Wilkinson
8. Daniel Carter
9. Rob Andrew
10. Piet Visagie
4 Feb 2007, 09:53 am
Deleck lol thats such a stupid statment to make.
They played a second hash side lol.
And they dident beat us, we lost the game.
Say what you want and if you watched both those games we had the far better side.
Scotland were simply KAK.
FKKS they got thrashed at home by Australia on the end of year tour.
Quite clearly your an expat living in london lol.
4 Feb 2007, 10:49 am
The BEST EVER no.10′s would need to have a complete package of 10 factors:
i. tactical brilliance (generalship)
ii. silky distribution skills
iii. dynamic attacking running skills
iv. speed
v. solid defence
vi. tactical kicker
viii. “dead-eye” place-kicker + drop-kicker
ix. consistency
x. the x-factor (flair)
I know of only two no.10′s who fit into this category:
1. Dan Carter
2. Hugo Porta
The above are the best no. 10′s of all time.
3. Johnny Wilkinson
Comes close to the above two but does not have great speed, and flair is there but only in a small dose.
Behind these three come a host of brilliant players who had weaknesses in only one or two areas:
Naas Botha (weak tackler)
Grant Fox (no running game to speak of, not much speed)
Rob Andrew (wasn’t blessed with flair)
Henry Honiball (weak tactical kicking skills)
Joel Stransky (brilliant but inconsistent)
Stephen Larkham (like Honiball has limited tactical kicking skills)
Phil Bennet (defence not great)
Barry John (defence not great)
Diego Domingues (not great running skills)
Andrew Mehrtens (like Stransky a bit inconsistent).
4 Feb 2007, 10:53 am
Wls1 don’t underestimate the English. They certainly have the depth and talent to bounce back strongly. I did live in london for a few years but now am in awesome Auckland.
4 Feb 2007, 11:48 am
Jonny got through the game without further injury and played very well.
Great news, and all rugby fans will welcome this news.
However the fact that England played him, after half a club game(or some such thing), shows how desperate they are to find answers to their fading fortune.
Lets hope Jonny can stay fit. I however, wouldn’t put any money on it.
I think maybe Jonny and England were lucky to get away this.
Ride your luck too often and soon enough you lose.
4 Feb 2007, 11:50 am
In the meantime:
Go jonny go, Jonny B. Goode.
4 Feb 2007, 11:54 am
FFS Jonny is spelt like this not Johnny.
Jonny is the best in our time. Carter is only good cos he has a great pack in front of him. Jonny excels even at Newcastle where they dont have a decent forward – think about it when last did a Newcy forward get into the England team ?
Naas Botha should not even be in the top 15 of all time. How many points did he score in his career – include the USA points if you like.
Also with the amount of points he scored (still leading the world) Neil Jenkins has to be in the top ten.
4 Feb 2007, 16:39 pm
40# 100%
Jonny the Greatest back in the history of rugby.
Sheer Magic
what a class act
makes carter look average
4 Feb 2007, 17:48 pm
Pietman, agree with most on that list but I think Larkham would have to be there for his sheer ability to dominate games(ala Naas Botha but more complete all round player).
Delek,AussiePommies..Naas Botha in his peak could actually tackle and the points accumulated by a 10 is not a guage of a players greatness. All Black Nicky Allen in the early 80′s only played a few games but died tragically early. However, he is still rated one of the most skilled AB backs ever.
5 Feb 2007, 16:09 pm
So he didnt stand the test of time then ?
5 Feb 2007, 18:15 pm
Rich, #41
You never watched the Lions tour of NZ did you?
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