England boss Martin Johnson has backed Jonny Wilkinson for the RBS Six Nations clash with Ireland on Saturday in an unchanged starting line-up from the team that laboured to a win over Italy 10 days ago.
Johnson said he had full confidence in Wilkinson after leaving his team untouched, opting only to recall Ben Foden, Lee Mears and Joe Worsley to the substitutes bench for the Twickenham tie. But Ireland have dropped their own veteran stand-off, Ronan OGara, in order to recall Jonathan Sexton of Leinster.
Wilkinson was forced to defend himself against criticism of his leadership and decision-making abilities. World Cup winner Matt Dawson said in his Sportsmail column that Wilkinson always relied on other players to make tactical calls, but the fly-half delivered an assured performance at the teams Surrey base in responding to his critics.
;That kind of talk is not intended for me, Wilkinson said. ;Its written for guys to give their opinion on. A lot of the talk is about the game plan and structure and not about me.
He added: ;If you took everything personally then we would all be quivering wrecks.
Holding on: Wilkinson will keep his place
When asked how dissatisfied he was with his present form he responded with a smile: ;As unsatisfied as I have ever been. By that I mean every game I have ever played Ive never been satisfied. Ive been at the same level of dissatisfaction throughout my entire career. I will probably retire in however many years, probably the most unsatisfied man in the world but Im happy to go that way. I dont mind coming off the field saying that I could have done better.
Responding to the criticism of Wilkinson, Englands attack coach Brian Smith added: ;Some of it is driven by people with their own agendas; some of it is bandwagon stuff. I dont think people have given Wilko credit for his performances and Im not sure he is being analysed properly. He is dedicated to mastering his position and we are working with him on little things we think he can improve on.
As for Dawson, Wilkinson said: ;You say that kind of criticism has got to hurt, but its all about stuff that has been and gone. If I was retired, and we were fighting over who did more it may be different.
Ireland have opted to start Sexton, 24, over OGara in a team showing four changes to that which lost 33-10 to France.
Injury to full back Rob Kearney has brought a recall for Leicesters Geordan Murphy while Rory Best takes over at hooker for the suspended Jerry Flannery. The final change comes at lock where Donncha OCallaghan is preferred to Leo Cullen. Prop John Hayes will win his 100th cap.
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