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Sometimes you'll score tries and plenty of them sometimes you'll draw a blank

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Sometimes you'll score tries and plenty of them; sometimes you'll draw a blank."I'd like to think - in fact, I know - that there is more to come in terms of tactical kicking, because the improvement in defensive strategy demands it. Inside them, you have the plodders - Will Greenwood and myself. Actually, that's a bit harsh; maybe I should describe us as the facilitators. There is one hell of a lot of footballing skill and attacking potential there.

With Jason Robinson at centre, we effectively have a back four rather than a back three, equipped with fantastic pace. "I would love a piece of Jonny's defensive ability, just like every other No 10 I know," he said. Instead, he has gone his own way, developing a unique variety of tactical kicks - cross-field howitzers and dinky little grubbers, chips off the instep and sliders off the outside of the boot, all manner of pushes and pokes and prods. He believes, with considerable justification, that the attacking rugby of the future has at least some of its roots in his take on the present."Look around the England back division picked to play this weekend," he said "It's an exciting combination, that's for sure.

I was under no illusions about Jonny; it was obvious that he was going to come through, that the Wilkinson era was dawning But I was a different player then. Coming back from this last World Cup, I had the feeling that Clive might get out the broom and sweep a few of us older blokes out of the squad. But it didn't affect the way I played at club level, and having settled back into the Northampton routine and turned in a couple of decent performances, I find myself here once again."Grayson has not remodelled his style as a result of Wilkinson's redefinition of the outside-half's role, although he acknowledges his countryman's influence on the game at large. There is nothing anyone can tell Grayson about the slings and arrows of sporting fortune."I think," he said modestly the other day, "I'm a better player than I was four years ago. Wayne Smith, my coach at Northampton, has been a big part of that, because he arrived when I was looking around for encouragement and not finding any.

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