Jonny Wilkinson excels in Toulon while Gavin Henson rebels in Wales

Wilkinson excels while Henson rebels There are three British rugby players who command attention away from the sports pages. Two, Danny Cipriani and Gavin Henson, are happy to cultivate their celebrity but Jonny Wilkinson at times appears embarrassed by the attention lavished on him. While Cipriani prepares for a stint in the Super 15 with the Melbourne Rebels and Henson takes to the dance floor, Wilkinson is making a compelling case for a recall to England's starting line-up this autumn. He scored 23 points for Toulon as they beat Clermont Auvergne 28-16 on Saturday, leaving his club's president, Mourad Boudjellal, drooling about the most expensive of his many imports to the shores of the Mediterranean. "Wilkinson is one of the best outside‑halves in the history of rugby," he said. "He is much stronger than last season. When you recruit a player it is about the attraction of what he brings. I have people who have private boxes at our stadium and who come by private jet from London when Jonny Wilkinson plays. There are also trips organised for English communities." Henson, meanwhile, is locked in an increasingly acrimonious dispute with the Ospreys as he looks to engineer a move away from the region and to the Aviva Premiership, with a club based in London. He has been on unpaid leave for more than a year, at his own request, but he has submitted through his solicitors a demand for more than £150,000 in back pay. If he does not receive it, his legal team will argue that the contract, which runs until the end of the season, is void. If the Ospreys maintain that Henson is not entitled to the money because he has not been involved with them for the last 13 months, could he then argue that as he has been in breach of contract it is no longer valid? "You have to wonder about the advice he is getting," said the Ospreys' managing director, Mike Cuddy. "You wonder whether he needs someone to give him a friendly clip around the ear." That is a charge that could not be levelled at Wilkinson. Steele is not unbending It is early days for the Rugby Football Union's new chief executive, John Steele, but he is already proving more popular than his predecessor, Francis Baron. Steele's first act has been to send out a questionnaire, asking how relations between the RFU and the clubs can be improved and inviting comments from all concerned. "I don't remember Francis Baron ever doing that," says Northampton's chairman, Keith Barwell, Steele's former boss who once said that he would rather sell the Big Issue than work with Baron. Monye out till December Harlequins have been hit by the loss of the England wing Ugo Monye, who has been ruled out for 12 weeks following surgery on his big toe. The 27-year-old, who played in the first and third Tests on last year's British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa, went under the surgeon's knife on Friday evening. Harlequins were pleased with the operation and Monye hopes to be back on the pitch by the middle of December.