It’s the first rest weekend of this RBS Six Nations Championship and time to take stock; in particular we need a reality check with regard to the England No 10.

Jonny Wilkinson misses a few kicks in Italy, England are squeezed and suddenly his game is being dismantled by all and sundry, the changing of the guard is being mooted once more and nobody is really sure if the (Toby) Flood gates are about to open.

Let’s ask a few questions. When was the last time Wilkinson played five England matches with the same scrum half? More and more we talk of the importance of half-back pairings being settled and we see the France duo of Morgan Parra and François Trinh-Duc working so well together. Yet we seem to expect Wilkinson to create miracles on his own. When was the last time he played five matches with the same inside centre? The last time he played in a really settled side was in 2003. That is not a criticism of selectors or players, it is fact.

So Wilkinson missed a few kicks. Who kicks well with the Mitre ball used in Italy? Neil Jenkins did OK with it because he hit the ball on the tip, but most other kickers have had issues with the ball. I live with one (Kenny Logan) who kicked so badly in 2000 that after missing three and handing the job to a team-mate, Italy went on to score a famous win over Scotland — their first Six Nations victory. He still feels responsible.
Did Ireland play well against Italy? No, and that was at Croke Park off the back of a year of unbeaten rugby. Italy disrupt even the most organised units, they play their own game and they are masters at spoiling. If England win the Six Nations on March 20, will anybody care that Italy came within a few points of them on Valentine’s Day?

Wearing the No 10 shirt has always been an emotional rollercoaster. Dan Parks earned his 48th cap for Scotland at the weekend and played his best game at No 10 in the national shirt. Against Wales, he kicked well, he created space and could do very little wrong — apart from the things he has never been able to do, but nobody expected him to become the greatest tackler of the Six Nations overnight. If Parks had played like that for the past six years, Scotland might be three places higher in the world rankings. And let’s not miss the opportunity to mention just how good Scotland’s pack is at the moment, always a blessing for an international No 10.

Would England swap Wilkinson for Parks after he played so well against Wales? No, of course not. Parks needs to string ten matches like that together for Scotland to earn that kind of reputation. Wilkinson is the top points-scorer in the competition so far and the top points scorer in England’s history with 1,085, but don’t pick him simply on reputation or because you’re not sure about Flood.

A few stark stats. Trinh-Duc, the man of the match for France, was the player everyone wanted to talk about last weekend, so he seems a good starting point for comparison. Both have made 11 tackles in their two matches: Wilkinson has missed none, his French counterpart four; Trinh-Duc has made three errors and Wilkinson none; Wilkinson has made 25 good kicks for territory, the Frenchman 20; Trinh-Duc has 14 caps and Wilkinson 75. He would probably have exceeded 100 but for injury.

If you give Wilkinson a plan, he will execute it. He plays to his strengths and if you run into him, you won’t get through. And that is the way it has always been. Against Ireland two years ago, Danny Cipriani made one of the most impressive full debuts in an England No 10 shirt. He bossed, he controlled, he was creative, he was fast — but if you ran into him, you might have got through. Comparing Cipriani and Wilkinson is a futile exercise; you are comparing dogs and cats.

Cipriani is not in the set-up and, as far as we can make out, is not on Martin Johnson’s radar. So why do we still talk about him? Because he gives us reason to believe that he can be the next great England No 10, producing flashes of genius that take our breath away.

And if he moves to the Super 15 with Melbourne Rebels, Cipriani may be making the best decision of his career. James Haskell left Wasps for Stade Français and the move has done him no harm. Wilkinson needed a challenge and Toulon provided it. Cipriani’s proposed move to Melbourne would not be the end for him, it could be the beginning. In the meantime, we should be grateful we’ve still got Jonny.

Times Online