CHARLIE HODGSON knows all too well that, as the England fly half and goalkicker, his game will be subject to the closest scrutiny. He is an understated man playing in a position that attracts hyperbole, aware that he can be cast as the hero or as the scapegoat. There has been much public fretting about his kicking technique since England’s defeat by France on Sunday, when he missed three place-kicks at goal and an attempted dropped goal that could have won the game for England.
Hodgson prefers the view, which is shared by Philippe Saint-Andre, his director of rugby at Sale Sharks, that four missed kicks do not suddenly make him a poor kicker. When Sale play Leeds Tykes in the Zurich Premiership on Friday night, Hodgson will take the first kick at goal without a second thought. “I’ll approach the game in the same way that I’ve always done,” he said. “There is no point clutching at straws, trying to change things in such a short period of time, when I know myself that I’m a good kicker and that I can strike the ball well.”
At Edgeley Park, there will only be around 8,000 pairs of eyes focusing on him as he calls for his kicking tee, rather than the 74,000 on Sunday. He will also hope for more clement conditions than the blustery breeze that circled around Twickenham, in which Olly Barkley also missed the target three times, although Dimitri Yachvili kicked six goals from eight attempts for France.
“At the weekend, there was only one (place-kick) that I didn’t hit well,” Hodgson said. “The rest of them I hit well but I judged the wind wrong. Yachvili got it right, but it was quite difficult. It doesn’t affect my confidence in my ability as a kicker, so I’m not going to change anything.”
Saint-Andre does not have any concerns that Hodgson’s professed confidence will have been eroded by his public ordeal. “I have told him that if the first penalty (on Friday) is from 50 metres, he should take it and score three points,” Saint-Andre said. “I know he will be OK because he is strong and he is looking forward to playing well and showing that he is a world-class kicker.”
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While Hodgson’s misses have inevitably provoked unfavourable comparisons with Jonny Wilkinson, Saint-Andre believes that reflex references to England’s absent captain cannot be helping the team, especially their goalkickers. “Charlie and Olly Barkley are world-class kickers, but you need the team management and the country to be behind the kicker,” he said.
“This is not the case at the moment. Everybody still talks about Wilkinson and, if England keep speaking about Wilkinson, it will be difficult to find a new kicker.
“Kicking is about confidence and the new kicker knows that if he misses one kick, the headlines will be about Wilkinson. At Twickenham there is the ghost of Wilkinson. He is a great kicker, but he has been injured for a long time.”
Saint-Andre expects to have his full complement of international players available for the game against Leeds, including Jason Robinson as captain and full back. Robinson, England’s stand-in captain, is another player itching to get back on the pitch to answer criticism that opposing defences are learning to blunt his razor-sharp breaks and that, from full back, his leadership has not been forceful enough.
“There have been a lot of things said, but people weren’t saying them in the autumn,” Robinson said. “They’re saying it now because, as a team, we’re not performing. When the team is not performing, you’re not going to have individuals standing out. But we know we’re under pressure because we’ve lost a couple of games.”
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None will be under greater pressure over the coming weeks than Hodgson. How he copes with it will make for interesting viewing.