? Fly-half returns to club to face Agen in Top 14
? France game likely to decide Six Nations 2011
A rare example of entente cordiale or an illustration of where Jonny Wilkinson stands in the England pecking order, the fly-half has been released back to Toulon and will play against Agen on Saturday.
While Martin Johnson might once have wrapped Wilkinson in cotton wool ahead of big games, the England manager has decided to allow the 31-year-old to play in the Top 14 fixture only a week before England meet France at Twickenham in what is being seen as the game likely to decide the Six Nations.
With Toulon's fly-half understudy Felipe Contepomi injured and the back-up signing Gavin Henson not ready to play, Johnson's gesture, although not yet mentioned by the England camp, has gone down well in the Var d�partement. However, Toulon's team manager, Tom Whitford, denied it stepped outside the bounds of an agreement struck between the England team manager and the head coach, Philippe Saint-Andr�.
"I think Jonno just wanted him to get a bit of game time after a couple of matches starting from the bench. I don't think it had anything to do with the specific number of minutes he played against Italy," said Whitford, ending suggestions that Wilkinson would automatically have been released had he played less than 10 minutes last Saturday.
As it was, Wilkinson left the replacements' bench with 25 minutes to go and will be sharper for starting for Toulon, fourth in the Top 14, against Agen, who are 11th, 21 points adrift of a team which continues to recruit from around the world.
This week Matt Giteau, the Wallaby midfielder, said he was leaving the Brumbies for 18 months in the south of France, after the World Cup. The announcement came a day after the Brumbies announced that Giteau would captain the side and play fly-half when they open the Super Rugby season against Chiefs on Saturday.
At the same time, the Melbourne Rebels said another England fly-half, Danny Cipriani, has not made the starting XV for their first competitive fixture. He will make his debut in the Super 15 against the Waratahs from the bench on Friday, with James Hilgendorf starting at fly-half and Julian Huxley at full-back.
The former Gloucester captain and Wales international Gareth Delve starts at No8, but Cipriani was considered to be the marquee signing when he signed, only for some inconsistent performances in their warm-up matches to undermine his position.
In another statement of intent, the new executive director at Sale, Steve Diamond, has bought one of the biggest forwards in Europe rugby as his first signing. The Irish tighthead prop Tony Buckley, weighing in at 21st 5lb, joins from Munster on a three-year deal. "We want to build a team around a dominant pack of forwards," Diamond said.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/feb/16/six-nations-2011-england-jonny-wilkinson
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