Parks expects fly-half flak

Dan Parks believes he and Jonny Wilkinson are cannon fodder for the critics simply because of the position they play.

Wilkinson has been blamed in some quarters for England's unconvincing performances in this season's RBS 6 Nations and arguably goes into Saturday's Calcutta Cup clash at Murrayfield under as much pressure as he ever has been. Fellow fly-half Parks, on the other hand, is enjoying a remarkable personal renaissance at Test level, having won back-to-back man-of-the-match awards.

"As my dad always said, I picked the position that's going to get the most grief," said Parks. "The position we play, you're always in the game, half-backs and 10s - 10s probably more so because they're in charge of where the game's more or less played."

He added: "They're the ones who are trying to score the points. It all equates to you being either the hero or the villain."

Parks, 31, is a huge admirer of Wilkinson and disagrees with the criticism his opposite number has had since England's disappointing win over Italy and defeat by Ireland.

Yet, he can understand where it stems from, saying: "He's obviously a central figure to the way England play the game.

"They didn't score many tries against Italy - maybe that's it. They lost to Ireland - there are numerous reasons.

"At the end of the day, I'm sure Jonny and all his team-mates know that he's a great player and that's all that's important."

Parks had first-hand experience of how great Wilkinson can be the first time they went head to head in 2007.

That was the latter's first match for England since dropping the goal that secured World Cup glory three-and-a-half years earlier. It was one of Wilkinson's finest Test performances as he scored a Calcutta Cup-record 27 points, including a full house of try, conversion, penalty and drop-goal.

Date published : 09 Mar 201019:38:29

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