Whether they will go head-to-head remains to be seen

Whether they will go head-to-head remains to be seen.Sir Clive Woodward thinks Robinson’s best position is full-back, and the rugby league convert may revert to No 15 from centre for a number of reasons, one of which is the flaky form of Iain Balshaw, and another the reappearance after injury of Mike Tindall. Some of the most remarkable tries in the World Cup were scored or created by these two, who will be performing at Twickenham next Saturday when England meet Ireland in round three of the Six Nations. Later on in his career it didn’t stop him saying: “I’d like to try and emulate Jason’s footwork, which is pretty much an impossible task.”In tripping the light fantastic Robinson is in the Fred Astaire class, but O’Driscoll has emerged as arguably the greater all-round player. He made it look so easy.” For a second Robinson feigned to go inside, then hit the turbocharger and was gone, leaving Latham, who was no slouch, tackling a shadow.In that stunning First Test O’Driscoll scored a try in the second half that was the stuff of Lions legend. Brian O’Driscoll’s first serious apprecia-tion of the skills of Jason Robinson arrived during the Lions tour of Australia.

Having just been tackled, the Irishman was lying on the turf of the Gabba in Brisbane, and he had a worm’s view of Robinson taking the ball in the second minute of the First Test. Between the left wing and the try line was Chris Latham, the Wallabies full-back. But then Tindall’s clearance kick was charged down by Christophers, who gained the rebound to touch down.Bath’s only response came when Tindall, in about his only constructive moment of the match, offloaded a scoring pass to Balshaw and the England full-back went in at the posts for Barkley to convert. Even so, Leeds and Christophers had the last word when the centre’s break led to Bath being penalised for handling in a ruck. Ross did the honours.Leeds, who by and large have failed to maintain their progress of last season, are nevertheless fortunate to be bedfellows with the Rhinos, the rugby league club, rather than the football club. Whether Wales can impede that build-up next Sunday depends on how quickly they can recover from that d?cle in Dublin.It was so disappointing for all of us who thought Wales had turned the corner to see that the old problems were still there Na? is the only word to describe the Welsh gameplan. Not that the attendances at Headingley have been earth-shattering.

Yesterday 3,740 braved the cold, but the Tykes rewarded them for their support.Leeds 21 Tries: Christophers 2 Con: Ross Pens: Ross 3Bath 10 Try: Balshaw Con: Barkley Pen: Barkley Half-time: 13-3 Attendance: 3,740Leeds: M Cardey; D Scarborough, P Christophers, A Snyman, D Albanese; G Ross, C Stuart-Smith (A Dickens, 74); M Shelley, M Regan, G Kerr (G Powell, 58)), S Hooper, T Palmer (capt), C Rigney, A Popham, D Hyde.Bath: I Balshaw; A Crockett, M Tindall, O Barkley, S Danielli (W Human, 50); M Catt, M Wood; D Barnes, J Humphreys (L Mears, 59), D Bell (M Stevens, 50), S Borthwick, D Grewcock (capt), A Beattie, I Feaunati, M Lipman (J Scaysbrook, 72).Referee: R Maybank (Kent).. A penalty attempt from Ross looked as if it was on target when Balshaw leapt up and tapped the ball onto the crossbar. Although he seemed to be surrounded by Tindall, Alex Crockett and Iain Balshaw, Christophers surged to the line, leaving a trail of blue jerseys in his wake.Leeds also had the edge in the goal-kicking department. Gordon Ross had given them the lead in the sixth minute with a well-struck penalty after Bath had fallen offside. The West Country club had chances to respond but Olly Barkley failed to convert relatively easy penalty chances in the eighth and 17th minutes.He finally put some points on the board after Colm Rigney conceded a penalty for taking out Isaac Feaunati, the former Leeds No 8. However Ross, who converted Christophers’ try from the touchline, added a long-range penalty after 35 minutes as Leeds established a 13-3 lead at half-time.The second try from Christophers ensured that Bath’s challenge disappeared It was an extraordinary affair.

He scored both Leeds’ tries in a win by a goal, a try and three penalties to a goal and a penalty.His first try came in the 22nd minute, when Martyn Wood failed to find touch and Leeds ran back with interest. Diego Albanese made headway down the left flank and his inside pass to Christophers created sheer panic in the Bath defence. He has been named in England’s preliminary squad for the Six Nations match with Ireland at Twickenham next Saturday but on this form he is nowhere near ready. Indeed he was outplayed by Phil Christophers, once capped by England in Argentina.