Time we cut Ashton some slack

CONGRATULATIONS to all those around English rugby who have made Chris Ashton the player he is today — in other words, a shadow of the player he was 12 months ago. Even in a spirited England display at the weekend, Ashton performed like a man whose spark has been extinguished. A barrage of sneers and spite have taken their toll and stripped all verve from his game. This time last year, Ashton was a revelation in a Martin Johnson side that appeared on course for the Grand Slam. Slowly, the cynics wore him down, until now he is an anonymous figure in England’s back line, unsure of his place in the next match with France. Ashton behaved foolishly at times during the World Cup, and was rightly censured. He always seemed to be in trouble, or at least on the fringes of it, and that had to stop. Yet the way the stuffing has been knocked from his play is pitiful. There were just too many sour faces every time he performed with exuberance, too many po-faced lectures accompanying each swallow dive. What is wrong with fun; what is wrong with showing off your talent? If a kid can see a space, chart a path, make a run that takes him over the try line five yards clear of the rest, why not celebrate it with a smile? It is certainly a finer use of facial muscle than the gleeful malice of his purse-lipped detractors when Ashton’s mistake gave Scotland a penalty at Murrayfield earlier this month. Perhaps Ashton’s crime was to be seen having fun in an England shirt; after all, no passionate debate about selfaggrandisement or respect for the opposition followed Scott Williams’s swallow dive to win the game for Wales at Twickenham on Saturday. ‘Williams also opted to finish his try with an elegant swallow dive,’ smarmed Rugby World. ‘It’s the first time Twickenham has seen that manoeuvre for quite some time.’ Yes, and there is a reason for that. The one English bloke who could do it had the joy sucked out of him by dullards. So now we’ve lost him, we must hope not for good.