KEY POINTS:
There is no such thing as a quiet life for an England coach, even when the Six Nations Championship goes into one of its mid-tournament shutdowns.
Brian Ashton was very much in the thick of it last week as injury bulletins from leading Premiership clubs left him in
no man's land ahead of next week's difficult fixture with France in Paris, while one of his principal lieutenants at last year's World Cup, the former national captain Martin Corry, fired a bullet or two from the hip.
Corry criticised Ashton's decision to substitute Jonny Wilkinson during the second half of last Sunday's narrow victory over Italy in Rome.
"It was a strange call to take him off," the Leicester captain said. "Jonny had come back brilliantly from his performance against Wales in the opening match, which was poor by his standards, and when you're under the cosh a little bit, as England were against the Italians, you want your main guy to be a stable point of focus."
England clung on to record a four-point win, their lowest victory margin in 14 meetings with the Azzurri despite an error by 20-year-old Danny Cipriani that led to a late Italian try.
Corry, who retired from test rugby a few weeks ago after deciding it was time to put family life, club commitments and his own physical wellbeing ahead of red-rose duty, said "stupid mistakes" had undermined the team's performance in both Six Nations matches to date.
He also took a pot-shot at the Twickenham hierarchy for failing to offer Ashton a fixed-term contract rather than the rather curious "indefinite" deal the coach agreed at the end of last year.
"It was hardly a glowing endorsement," he said while questioning the judgement of two fellow England captains, Lawrence Dallaglio and Mike Catt, over the stab-and-tell biographies they released immediately after the World Cup.
"I think that was regrettable," he commented. "We wanted to come back from that tournament with our heads held high, but no sooner had we set foot back in England, people were reading those books."
Ashton has continuing concerns over the condition of his senior loosehead prop, Andrew Sheridan, who missed the match in Rome after falling victim to an infected cut on his ankle while Phil Vickery, the other first-choice England prop, is a doubtful starter to lead the team in Paris.
- INDEPENDENT