time overdue to HALT the excessive DRUG ABUSE

arrest­ the culprits & give life bans

Well we CAN say that johnson is not picking on for­ because the top 2 form 10's in England after the 6­ nations were... Vesty and Hodgson... YES Charlie­ Hodgson.!! Impeccable distribution and a metronomic­ points scoring. Which squad he should be in is­ anybody's guess but that he's not in any and­ Goode is is a travesty of rugby. I'm not a Sale fan­ either my club is Bedford (thanks for Varndell btw very­ likeable kid). But if Jonno is picking on form as he­ claims the where is he? Dowi Morris and i would both­ like to know

I never said that all good players had a touch or­ arrogance. Just some. I'm not making excuses for­ him. I did say his rugby hasn't been good enough to­ get selected this time around. I also know that not all­ men are drooling animals. I'm just saying, if you­ find someone you like and it turns out they're a­ celebrity, is it a crime if they go out with them? The­ way you talk about makes it sound as if it's a­ crime and you're judging him on his girlfriend! I­ know he's been average all season and I would be­ the first to say it was the right call not to select­ him. I'm just saying, judge him on his rugby as­ opposed to what the media say about him.

I also do­ think he's talked about far too much. Again, not­ necessarily his fault. The media have an obsession with­ him because he's young, good looking (in contrast­ to the stereotypical idea of a rugby player) and has a­ celebrity girlfriend. Case in point- I was at the gym­ and watching the sky sports news screen and as breaking­ news it was 'Cipriani left out of England­ tests' and when it got to the 'Rugby Union'­ tab, repeated the news, mentioned the Wilkinson move to­ Toulon and then didn't say who was in the England­ summer squad. Really irritated me. I think we're on­ the same page on that one.

I am certainly not making­ excuses for his playing. Perhaps you could tell me­ where I was. All I'm saying is, he's young, he­ has some maturing to do, yes, but it's unfair to­ judge him on his non-rugby-playing-related past­ mistakes. If you say he's been average and­ shouldn't be selected, fair enough. I agree with­ you. If you say he shouldn't be selected because­ the Sun talks about him too much, that's hardly a­ fair judgement on his rugby playing. That's all.

As a media post board it is noteworthy You censor and­ delete adverse comment against one of your­ "pets" This celeb playboy cant tackle or kick­ from hand.I see no teason for Johnson to have to­ explain his absence!

Love the way the non-English are using this as a way of­ attacking England. Comment number 5 from the Welsh dude­ is a mystery. Don't you find it weird that you have­ to go back to the 70s to find decent welsh players.­ Wales finished fourth in the 6 nations and deservedly­ so. They were all hype. England were a good second team­ and but for the refs probably would have won it.­ Don't get me wrong Ireland deserved the win but­ England didn't deserve the criticism they got. The­ likelihood is, England would have not have been as good­ as they were if they had selected Cipriani. His form is­ mixed and we can't afford to field a guy with one­ eye on the attention the media will provide. He is too­ young and doesn't know how to control the game yet.­ Give him time and his raw talent will show through.

Too much rugby been played, players need longer breaks­ to recover. The game has never been more physical yet­ players are playing from Sep - Oct all the way to June.­ I think players would improve if they had more time to­ recover instead of playing the US or Canada.

so leicester have 9 players in the squad, why does that­ automatically mean that johnson is biased? i'm not­ a leicester fan and i think its completely­ understandable. leicester finished top of the­ premiership and went on to win the final (only the­ second time thats happened i think?) and they're­ also playing the heineken cup final this weekend.­ johnson is in a difficult situation. the game against­ the barbarians is really just an exhibition match, he­ gains nothing for a win but will be heavily criticised­ if they lose. most of his key players are away on lions­ duty or off injured. looking forward to seeing some of­ the uncapped players in an england shirt. would like to­ see a centre pairing of turner-hall and flutey but will­ have to wait for that one.

Well at least no one can accuse Martin Johnson of not­ picking on form. Tom May and Sam Vesty, along with­ Jordan Turner Hall and Chris Robshaw are in fine form­ and deserve their chance. Goode, Noon and Deacon are­ lucky to still be included and I feel a little sorry­ for Will Skinner and Dean Schofield.
The main issue­ surrounding Cipriani is his ability to control a game­ from beginning to end. Once or twice this season he has­ done it but he is not consistent, at times appearing­ like he is trying a little too hard. I dont think that­ playing in a spluttering Wasps team is ideal for him,­ as his pack is allowing opposition defences to get to­ him and apply pressure.
Cipriani is the long term­ answer there is no sense in rushing him into the team­ and the watching him get shot down. Finally really­ hope that Foden gets a chance to play at 15 and show­ the attacking skills that a full back is sure to nedd­ with Argentina employing a kick/chase game.

If Cipriani wants to go touring this summer my caravan­ is free because thats all he is fit for.

not an England side more like tigers
Johno's old­ roots ??

ALEX......no, not all good players are a 'bit­ arrogant' in fact it seems to me that the arrogant­ ones are actually not as good as both they and the­ media think they are.... the trouble with cipriani is,­ that he is more known for his relationship with kelly­ whats her face, than for his rugby, because he isnt a­ great player, he's just another average­ player....seriously now...... and as for your comment­ on kelly brook '' How many of you in his­ position would turn her down anyway? Get off your high­ horses''- well we're not all Neanderthals­ who druel at the first sight of a pair of boobs! My­ point being your excuses are pretty lame....overall,­ again, he is an arrogant over rated player who gets­ talked about FAR too much, and thats even more funny­ than watching the decisions he makes on the pitch!!!

sorry vicky i said young prospect not tried once and­ never again besides he picks up to many injuries

Simple really - pick form players. Cipriani hasn't­ form ergo don't pick him.

What about Olly Berkely?

can't seem to get my head round the fact he's­ picked thomo as i've wathed most of his games this­ year and he's become a tub of lard since going to­ brive and next to useless anywhere else on the park­ also if anyone can name a better young prospect than­ paul diggin i'd like to here it?

I think most of you are being a bit unfair to Cipriani.­ I think it was the correct decision to leave him out of­ the squad since he hasn't been in consistently­ better form than those selected above him and whatever­ he says, needs to get the screw in his ankle removed­ (went off against Gloucester with a sore ankle as a­ result of the screw still being there). I do think he­ has potential and was pretty good for a 19/20 year old­ before his injury. He needs to regain that form with­ interest and next season is when it'll happen if­ it's going to happen at all I think.

However, his­ girlfriend and the way the media portray him has­ nothing to do with a rugby player. Far be it for me to­ comment on his personal life but he seems to have been­ going out with Kelly Brooke for quite some time now.­ Hardly just a playboy-type fling. How many of you in­ his position would turn her down anyway? Get off your­ high horses. It's not his fault that the media are­ fascinated with him. If he refused to comment,­ they'd write about him anyway so he may as well put­ his point across. You shouldn't believe everything­ you read in the paper. Yes there's a touch of­ arrogance about him but that's true of many good­ players, and to be fair, he seems to be maturing. You­ can't judge him on the transexual incident 2 years­ ago. He made a mistake. Plenty do.

Let his rugby do­ the talking and leave his personal life out of it. As­ for 'this is not a development tour,' it damn­ well should be. Thompson is not the way forward.­ Neither is Chuter. What's going to happen when they­ retire. There seems to be a real lack depth in the­ front row. Surely Johnson needs to blood some new props­ and hookers. The rest seems pretty good to me (aside­ from Goode and Noon- neither should start any games).­ It's right that there should be lots of players­ from Leicester since they're at the top of the­ Premiership. There are also a fair few from Irish and­ Quins.

Cipriani should not really be touring at all and the­ management should have told him so, he'll be back­ next year and even the Ferengi will have to pick­ him
Johnson worries me, bringing in Goode and Thomson­ is a retrograde step at best especially Goode who as­ abn in form Flyhalf is worse than an out of form­ Cipriani, Goode doesn't deserve his place. We­ scraped a second not by being the second best but by­ lucking our way out of 4th place, Wales were better­ than us for one and i don't see that where we are­ going is going to improve our chances against the big­ boys from the SH
Vesty is in form and deserves a crack­ at the shirt

IM A WASPS FAN myself and it has nothing to do with­ favoritism, the FACT is that cipriani is just a­ completely average player who is hyped up as being an­ amazing worldclass player who you'd swear had­ achieved loads, and was a force to be reckoned­ with....but....NEWS JUST IN....HE'S NOT......hes­ just an average player, who hasnt performed/achieved at­ the highest level 'consistantly' and on that­ alone he can't be included......he needs to stick­ to trying to get photographed for the sun or other­ trash papers/mags with his girlfriend, thats where his­ future lies......from a wasps fan, not a cipriani­ fan.............