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The Rolling Maul: No (sur)name Danny fights the Irish

Danny's lost his surname. It's a mark of an ascension. Jonny lost his years ago and since that time, no surname has been needed. This Saturday we have the Danny show, and last week we had the Jonny no-show. However you dress it up, Brian Ashton was utterly compelled to make the change. If Danny had another night out passing on match tickets, then it had to be Charlie Hodgson. If not him, Ryan Lamb or Andy Goode. Jonny has, hopefully just for now, lost the art of making England play.

What can we expect? Not a free ride, of course. David Wallace of Ireland will be hounding Danny, Ronan O'Gara too. There will be more verbals than in a whole series of Parkinson. He has hardly ever met Richard Wigglesworth, his scrum-half, let alone played with him. He is sandwiched between Wigglesworth and Toby Flood, who has been wholly ineffectual so far this season. Danny will be expected to kick start a team that has been immobile, kicking itself. It is all a ferocious task.

But I just have this feeling that Danny could be special at Twickenham. He will change England 's shape simply by being there. He stands flatter than Wilkinson, his hands are quicker, he is slightly less mechanical in his distribution and he is far quicker over the ground. Indeed, Cipriani is one of the fastest men in rugby. At present, he is also a longer kicker out of hand than Wilkinson.

Naturally, we do not know yet if he can achieve the same high kicking percentage at Jonny, especially under pressure in the last few minutes. We do not know if he will be able to cope when the strapping Andrew Trimble and Wallace come down his channel though I have never seen him exposed in defence. We do not know if he can carry his aura into the Test field as did Jonny.

But I cannot remember being so excited about a young player or so admiring of his work ethic, charm and appeal. I conclude that if he does fail on Saturday, it will be for one reason - that he tries too much. He has been known to dip too deep into his box of tricks, to bank on his talent when a conservative option would maybe have been better. To speculate.

What a contrast with staid old England of late. What a prospect. We still love Jonny. But now it's Danny's turn, he deserves it, and I challenge you at Twickers and in your armchairs, not to be drawn to the edge of the seat.

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The Rolling Maul: Is Cipriani the new George Best?

Stephen Jones debates the biggest issues in rugby union in his weekly e-mail

How much more were we looking forward to Saturday when Danny Cipriani was in the England team? We neutrals would have been craning forward in our seats, especially those of us who regard Cipriani as among the greatest young talents we have ever seen. Some of his play for Wasps this season, even as a kid in high-octane fixtures, has been breathtaking - sometimes fallible, but breathtaking.

Scotland would have been craning forward too. Mike Blair is on record as saying that Cipriani would be targeted under the high ball and that the full resources of Scotland, the team and followers and rain-dancers, would be employed to try to shake the young man to his boot studs. Exactly as it should be.

Now, with his withdrawal from the team for "inappropriate behaviour" there is a sense of loss, and a sense of let-down - and also concern for Cipriani. He is a brilliant talent but you always suspected that there were complications below the surface, perhaps even a dark side, and that his own relentless, driven personality, his supreme dedication, may have an effect, a reaction. He is also a young man, and because of his life as a precocious young player in academies and rugby scholarships, he is someone who missed out on his teenage wastrel years.

The incident will probably double the public and media attention and people will worry that rugby has, if in a different key, its own George Best. Yet I have the strong feeling that Cipriani will hold up under pressure. To me, the sole threat to him is his own character. Off the field he needs to sort himself. On the field he is not in the least inclined, as so many other England players have always been inclined, to let the match slide away from him. He will be bold, he will try to impose himself. But will he time it correctly, or will he become dangerously speculative in his career?

If he copes with his own demons and if on the field he chooses his moment, he could be dynamic and an all-time great. He has a vision of the game beyond his years, he has an authority, he has a superb kicking game which is still improving, and he is tough. And far from the least of his virtues is that he is devastatingly fast - he may well have been the fastest man on the field on Saturday.

People have accused me of double standards, that I always deny the right of callow young men to make Test teams. Wrong. I hate it when youngsters of promise are brought in, just for the sake of youth, before they have a track record. Cipriani has that track record. He has won major matches, he has played in the Heineken Cup final like a veteran. He is ready.

For me, the ability is a given, beyond any doubt. Now the attention switches to his ability to behave properly and to bounce back immediately, toeing the party line. We will sadly miss him on Saturday but at present it is far more important that there will be more Saturdays in future.

This is part of Stephen Jones's brilliant new free rugby e-mail. Read the rest of it and sign up for next week's by clicking here.

The Rolling Maul: Time for Scotland to rise up and see off the invading English

Stephen Jones debates the biggest issues in rugby union in his weekly e-mail 

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Last summer I went to Culloden, which is near Inverness. There is a brilliant museum, exhibition and live act bringing the whole history of the famous battle to life. To wander the battlefield itself, and to take in signposts telling you where each of the clans stood to begin their charge (and where so many were massacred by the guns of the Royal Artillery before they even joined battle) was wonderfully evocative. Butcher Cumberland's triumph over Bonnie (and hopeless) Prince Charlie and the Scots, in what one historian described as a "welter of carnage" marks the day, they say, when the powers of the clans ceased for ever.

There is still the occasional stirring, however, even though the somewhat genteel atmosphere of Scottish rugby seems to be at odds with the kilted ferocity of their rampaging forefathers. Scottish rugby has been quiet for a long time, somewhat apologetic and doom-laden and too often showing minimal resistance on and off the field.

It is usually the arrival of England that stirs Scottish rugby and brings out some of the old beast in them - makes them bloody-minded to play against, gives Flower of Scotland an edge of passion, and which causes followers to rant and rave in columns and websites and in bars at the notion of English superiority and the English media writing them off.

It is always even more of a goad when England come cocky - and big favourites - as they will do a week on Saturday. Suddenly, when the old enmities revive, we are transported, not as far back as Culloden - although that allows us to understand a little of the deeper motivation - but as far back as when Murrayfield was a fortress, a horrible place to come.

When it happens, the whole Six Nations gains in power. What is it going to be this time, Scotland? The easy subsidence? Or the glorious, bloody-minded charge?

This is part of Stephen Jones's brilliant new free rugby e-mail. Read the rest of it and sign up for next week's by clicking here.

The Rolling Maul: Why Ronan O'Gara must play till he is 56

Stephen Jones debates the biggest issues in rugby union in his weekly e-mail 

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Which nation has the best professional rugby system? The debate is conducted with some of the vehemence of that between the communists and the capitalists in the Cold War.

Surely, no-one with a brain in working order doubts that the English and French systems are light years ahead in terms of commercial appeal, gate-taking and success in the main cross-border events. Leicester's announcement of the building of a 30,000-seat stadium and the aspirations of Bath and Saracens to something similar, are evidence that the English clubs just cannot get all their fans in.

The Rolling Maul: the Babbling Broadcasting Corporation

Stephen Jones debates the biggest issues in rugby union in his weekly e-mail 

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BBC - the Babbling Broadcasting Corporation
Do we love Auntie's coverage of rugby? Or not? Opinions vary wildly. We must be fair to the BBC (Babbling Broadcasting Corporation). They are meant to let the pictures do the talking. But the pictures they had to show from Rome last weekend of England's desperate struggle to beat a brave and helplessly limited Italy spoke to no one.

Some of us sat down in the evening to watch a re-run of the whole thing. We gamely tried to absorb the interminable cacophony of spouting experts (and non-experts) which afflicted their telecast. "Effing shut up!" one of my milder pals bawled at one stage, as they handed from people in the commentary box to people on the touchline to people in the studio to the token Italian to a bloke up in the stand, portentously scanning a bank of television screens (wonder what was on? The Western on BBC2?). Trying too hard? Verbal diarrhoea? Whatever, I found it fiercely distracting.

Some of the component parts were fine. People forget how influential John Inverdale, the presenter, has been in broadcasting. When he first appeared, he brought a bedrock of total professionalism and on it lay a warm, different and yet journalistic irreverence which his listeners on Radio 5, one of his old homes, and others engaged with. He set a sparking new tone.

The Rolling Maul: King Jonny on verge of being overthrown

Can you pick a player because of who he is, and not because of what he does? It seems so, otherwise Danny Cipriani would be the England fly-half in Rome this Sunday and Jonny Wilkinson, conceivably, would not even be on the bench.
Ultimately, grudgingly, I have to admit that I would choose him for the Italy game but only by a kind of circumstantial default. Mike Tindall, one of the finest midfield focal points in Europe, is injured. His absence cruelly wounds the rest of the England campaign.
Furthermore, the grisly injury toll means that England have lost four other key men. One more defeat and we are slap bang back into the debate of the early World Cup as to whether Brian Ashton has a clear voice or if it is submerged by clashing philosophies and bickering inside the team room.
For that reason, for a kind of stability, for a familiar face, and because the players around him still seem to believe in him (at least, they say they do at the traditional asinine, self-justifying media burbles which afflict the whole Six Nations), I would choose Jonny for Rome.
But strictly on form? No. Is this a media thing? We built him and now, typically, are we devouring him? Absolutely not. He has lost a considerable amount from his game and my growing anxieties are purely technical. He is the greatest tackler, pound-for-pound, the game has ever seen, bar none. But the eye tells us that he no longer hits so hard and the statistics tell us that he no longer hits so often.
Indeed, his lunge which knocked Jonathan Thomas senseless at Twickenham and which really had to bring a citing, was perhaps a view on a decline. His goalkicking percentage rate is currently fine, but it is lower, it is that of a mere mortal.
His kicking out of hand has become frustratingly conservative. These days, he no longer seems to give the ball a kind of joyous whack with the outside of his boot, which used to deliver it on vast diagonals. He kicks end over end, burying the balls safely into the stands. But often, after his team have won a line-out, his clearing kick gives them another line-out about 15-20 metres up the field but this time, without the throw-in. Compare the length of the kicking of, say, James Hook or Ronan O'Gara.
Opinion as to whether he has declined as a tactical controller depends on your view as to whether he ever was one. He still takes responsibility, but his check-and-go manoeuvre has become samey, and he rarely these days puts people through the gap with aplomb. I have a vast affection for Newcastle Falcons but this season I have seen them too many times, with all the ball in the world, with Jonny, Toby Flood and Mathew Tait in the midfield, fail utterly to pose a threat to the defence. His game at Twickenham last Saturday fell to bits.
His temperament, his aura, and his ice-coolness on the late, fateful kicks are all still magnificent. His courage too. It is marvellous to see him putting in a long run of games after the horrible run of injury. Rugby will never be able to repay him for his appeal, modesty, behaviour and glamour.
But King Jonny is on the verge of being overthrown. The greatness is declining. If England could only find momentum and direction, then they may well conclude that different hands on the wheel are sorely needed. Well, are we choosing icons, or players?