Just watching Rugby Union on Sky and apparently Chris is the league's leading scorer at the moment. Shockingly he is playing on the wing and touching the ball.

Aye scored two at the weekend including the winning try. Also broke that bloodgate player's nose the other week. Being touted to play for England as well.

I bet he is not doing much tackling,

Good article/match report here

[urlhttp://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/rugby_union/article6946642.ece[/url

It's also good to see the positive attitude they have towards him and that it was ex-league players scoring the main points in the game; Ashton, Hape and Myler

On the right hand side you can watch the highlights of most games going back over a month.

I noticed that myself so I thought it would be a good idea to check out his tries. Unfortunately I found it a little boring watching all the kicks at goal so I just watched the Northampton - Bath highlights, couldn't bare watching more union.

He broke the try scoring record in his first season (albeit in National 1).
If he continues in this vein it won't be long till he gets a call up. Think he'd be a real stand out for England, definitely so under somebody other than Martin 'kick, kick, maul and kick some more' Johnson.

His performances in the second tier are nothing to judge him by, that is very much an amateur competition.

However in no way should we be surprised by his success, the amount of attacking talent this lad has is awesome. He has the potential to be a major success in league with a lot of work, but as will become clear over the next few years he is far more suited to Union. In fact these performances are far overdue, he should have been knocking on the England door a year or so ago.

It will be interesting to see if three ex-league players will break the Rob Andrew old boys network at Twickenham.

Been watching the highlights on itv4 to see how he's been doing and from what i've seen he's looked really impressive, scored a cracking solo try against bath and i never realised how fast he actually was! shame he never made it at wigan really.

His pace his incredible, however the way he manages it is even better.

I would sooner watch Latics than union and anyone who knows me knows how likely that is.

To be fair he always was a very quick and great attacking player for us, it was just his defence which was suspect. He was only 19 though and many 19 year olds are weak in defence.

I think his memory has been tarnished quite a lot on here due to the bile he received after THAT photo. That polarised a lot of people's opinions of him out of all proportion to what he did and how good he was.

I'll now go and put on my crash helmet!

It wasn't just that though was it?

I know players who played with and against him who said "Ashton had a very poor attitude, training, on the field and off it"

No doubt though that he has the talent to become a very good rugby player.

Very cocky lad indeed, cracking potential with the right coach he could of been a worldclass fullback or winger

from talking to a lad I went to school with who's a Northampton season ticket holder he's still a cocky get with a shocking attitude so nothing's changed by all accounts.

It speaks volumes for england if someone with his attitude is in the frame for an international call up.

Apart from the fact that he along with quite a few others in the second tier were and are paid.


Like I said, it won't be long till he walks out at Twickers. If the England backs start dropping fly like as the forwards have then he could well be there or there abouts for the six nations next year.

[urlhttp://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/rugby_union/article6951060.ece[/url

Another excellent article concerning all the former RL players now holding down defensive coaching roles at RU clubs.

The impact former RL players have had on Ru can’t be ignored. IMO not only did they bring new ideas of thinking but players and coaches from RL like Edwards and Jason Robinson showed them what professional athletes looked like as well.

It’s not only at club level with again Edwards introducing the blitz defence which took European rugby by storm and made Wasps a major force but it’s had a massive impact on their international game as well.

John Muggleton led Australia to the world cup in 1999- Larder built England’s brick wall defence in 2003 that’s two of the past three world cups which have been won with and RL influence.

I can’t help but look at the list at the bottom of the article and be angry that people like McRae and Cullen continue to move from job to job when there is so much talent we just don’t give a chance plying their trade in a sport in direct comp with our own.

Why?

What difference is there from players like Bridge or Long playing for England in RL? One has previous history with the law and the other has one of the biggest ego’s and attitudes in world sport? I’m sure others can name far more as well.

In the cut throat world of international RL you pick the best guys for the job.

Because they a) have a far larger pool of players than we (RL) do and b) if you believe the press have an unending pot of cash with which to develop that pool of players.

The fly in that ointment is that they are constantly targeting RL for players and were it not for the contributions of a RL great and some RL coaches would have lost the world cup final in 2003 so they may have a larger pool but the quality and talent is dreadful.

Getting back to Ashton though my mate says he could be the best back they have had in the last 10 to 15 years which is some claim when you look at the backs Nothampton have had in that time.

To be honest good luck to him but I honestly don't care about him.

Quite, but like I said it is still very much an amateur competition. I mean in terms of standard, I'd even wager that 'quite a few' substantially payed players are just from the GP relegated team.

Might be on my own here but I for one am still a little mift that we lost him. Yes he may have had some attitude problems but they'd have soon been ironed out by his peers and the coaching staff, and likewise with the frailties within his game we could have rectified those overtime.

If the club ever had the choice of bringing him back I'd have no issue with it, we all make mistakes particularly when young.

Not on your own. I would take him back n'all.

If he had stayed we wouldnt have had to put up with Mathers

It's hard to make a judgement on him overall because we don't know the in's and out's of him and just how bad his attitude is. If the club felt he was managable on that side of things theres no doubt he's got huge talent. Some of the things he did with ball in hand for us were fantastic and he was so exciting to watch.

I doubt us having room playing wise to fit him in for 2010 but if he were available for the year after and we had a space i'd be tempted. He has pace to burn and can beat people for fun..........thats something any side could do with.

I know that there has always been talk of Ashtons poor attitude, but what actually happened?. Does Rad's make any mention of it in his Biography?.

I am not saying that he never has a bad attitude, no smoke without fire. what i want to hear is all the juicy gossip!!

PM's appreciated

Just liked to blow his own trumpet rather than keep his feet on the ground. Might of been one of the ones Rads was talking about when he mentioned young lads walking around town as if they were "Johnny Big Time" cos they'd played a few first team games. I appreciate confidence in yourself, all the top players have it but not cockiness and thinking your more special than you are. With a better coach he'd changed in a flash