Rugby: England requires Flood, France remains concerned Wilkinson

For both English and French agree on one thing before the quarter-final Saturday: they want to see Jonny Wilkinson to start on the bench. However, the reasons differ. When the subject of his Majesty requires the sparkling Toby Flood at flyhalf position instead of the ghost of "Wilko" that haunts New Zealand last month, the French support nightmares still reviewing the last drop of snap drop in the last two semifinals lost to the Blues in 2003 and 2007. "Stop saying that Jonny will still kill you, beg Steven Howard, a journalist with the Sun. He missed 11 of 20 penalties since the start of the World Cup, this is not the same Jonny. In ten minutes against Scotland, Toby Flood showed more things than Wilkinson at 70. "

This view is shared by many in England, starting with the back line players. The Ashton, Cueto, Foden or Armitage have begun a lobbying campaign to Martin Johnson for the tenure of Flood. But until his arm injury, the coach kept his faith in Jonny Wilkinson, even angry with the ball of the World Cup and guilty of missing a penalty in the strings of a scorer Federal 3. Toulon's injury puts the England coach before a difficult choice: focus on youth (26) Flood and creativity of the experience of Wilkinson (32) and its supposed psychological hold on the France team.