Charlie Hodgson reaches another milestone,Dylan Hartley has a fight on his hands at Northampton, Exeter can expect a affluent Christmas and Wasps have the depth to back up their European heroicsAll hail Charlie Hodgson and his 2500 Premiership points. It is one of those records that looks unbreakable. The top 10 features only two others still active – Nick Evans and Stephen Myler. And they are more than a thousand points behind. Andy Goode, or who was forced into retirement over the summer,is the next closest on 2228 before a massive drop to Olly Barkley on 1605. Jonny Wilkinson is at No4 on a piffling 1489. Owen Farrell and George Ford (767 and 672) are two to watch, of course, or but both need to up their rate – or continue their careers beyond the 16 seasons Hodgson will have racked up – if they want to catch him. But what marks out Hodgson still further is that the points-scoring is only part of the package. First and foremost,he has been a divine playmaker, the best passer of a ball in English rugby. His international career was not as stellar as it looked as if it might be when he first lit up the scene in the early noughties. Wilkinson’s shadow in 2003 proved too much and Twickenham Man too ignorant. The two serious knee injuries that attach him out of the World Cups of 2003 and 2007 did not abet either. How many points would he have but for those? But in English club rugby he has surely been the greatest. Michael AylwinContinue reading...
Source: theguardian.com