Tuesday 19 January 2016 10:04, UK
Will Greenwood discuss the impact Jonny Wilkinson would have as a coach and England starting places still up for grabs.
New England coach Eddie Jones has reportedly offered Jonny Wilkinson a role on his coaching team.
A chance meeting in a supermarket resulted in Jones asking England's record points scorer to work with the likes of George Ford and Owen Farrell.
Wilkinson, whose drop goal famously won England the World Cup in 2003 against Jones' Australia, has been performing a part-time coaching role at Toulon. Will Greenwood believes that it could be a fantastic match-up.
"It seems like a match made in heaven with Jonny being involved with a youngish squad," said Greenwood on the Rugby Club Wrap Up.
"His expertise, his skill and his work with Dave Alred means that he knows everything there is to know about getting one ball and kicking it from one place to the next. Plus, he has been working on his coaching at Toulon so he understands the language, the terminology and the phraseology that a coach must use as opposed to a player talking to a player.
"It is exciting times, Eddie wants a small, really streamlined coaching staff and Jonny will be the crossing of a t and the dotting of an i to come in and help on the kicking side."
Wilkinson has obviously a lot more to offer than just his kicking skills but Greenwood believes that England will use him solely as a kicking guru.
"I think they are talking about as and when he can drop into the side," added Greenwood.
"When you are talking about that then I am not so sure what extra remit he will have on top of the kicking - it would be quite dangerous to have a guy come in for a couple of hours. If you are in there full-time then I am sure he would be doing a lot more but it is as and when he is available then I think that his remit in the short term would be based around the kicking element of the game.
"If the relationship works well and it grows, then England will absolutely tap into his brain on much for of an attacking and defensive front."
Up for grabs
Eddie Jones recently named his first England Elite Players Squad but has to start trimming the 33 man squad down to 23 ahead of England's Six Nations opener against Scotland on February 6. And Greenwood says that the last two rounds of Europe will play a huge part in his decision making.
"I genuinely believe that there are four or five England slots for the Scotland game still up for grabs," said Greenwood.
"I think if Eddie Jones had been in the job for six to nine months then I think these last couple of games may decide who makes No 21,22 and 23.
"I think because Eddie has only started to watch rugby in the last four to five weeks, these become big, big games and big opportunities.
"Wasps can get out of this pool stage by beating Leinster at home therefore Matt Mullan and Elliot Daly have got massive opportunities to show that when the push comes to shove that they can perform.
"I am pretty sure some of Eddie's selections will be going to the wire - hence someone like James Haskell will be on the physio bench all week desperate to try and snatch that six jersey away from Chris Robshaw.
"Pat Sanderson gave Chris Robshaw the man of the match award after their win against Cardiff - he went pretty well at No 6."
Robshaw was not the only England hopeful to impress and said that it was good to see confidence growing.
"Marland Yarde is starting to finish well and really seems to be getting his confidence back.
"From Saracens, well I thought Owen Farrell was probably the strongest of their players. He is really comfortable and much flatter on the gain-line. He is not waiting for defences to open up but is taking the game to the opposition, he really ran the show against Ulster."
