Ashton: 'It was 60 minutes before I touched the ball'

 

Hugh Godwin
Sunday 02 October 2011 00:00 BST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

The euphoria of scoring England's winning try faded quickly for Chris Ashton. A short, sharp sprint took Ashton to the top of the World Cup scorers' charts but he was almost as relieved simply to get the ball in his hands as he was to score a 15th try in 19 Tests.

"I reckon it was 60 minutes in before I touched the ball," said the Northampton wing. "I was running around hitting a lot of breakdowns, which I'm not very good at. The first touch was a kick to the corner, the second was another kick and the third was a try. But I've got to get used to it because these games are only going to get worse."

The lesson may just be to feed Ashton more often. It was Toby Flood's decision to kick for touch rather than goal that led to Ashton's score.

"Maybe if we move the ball around a bit more we could have a bit more confidence and we could get a bit more go-forward," Ashton said. His full-back, Ben Foden, would agree.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in