Writing in The Times, Gerald Davies draws comparisons between All Blacks fly-half Dan Carter and his English counterpart Jonny Wilkinson.
"Each player in his fashion exerts an all-embracing influence on his team. They do so nowadays not only in the manner of their expert play but increasingly by the mere talk of their presence, which is at once inspiring and debilitating. Their inclusion encourages bravura in others and a puffing of the chest, their absence brings in its place a brittle mood of a team’s only half-belief. This lack of conviction has been less for the All Blacks, while, with his six-year absence, Wilkinson has been a ghostly presence at almost every feast since 2003, a reminder of what might have been for England. His return has been a long time coming.
"Accomplished and distinguished as they are, each has travelled a different path to their present heights. If one is loyal more to technique than to instinct, the other manifests more of a natural “feel” above solid practice, while neither influence, whether of nature or nurture, is totally absent from either supreme performer. Simply, the balance varies."
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