Wilkinson has lost his place to Danny Cipriani (right)

Gomarsall, himself dropped earlier in the Six Nations campaign, told BBC Sport: "There is a reason why Jonny isn't playing well in this team.

"If I were a coach, I'd be looking at myself wondering why a class act like Jonny isn't functioning.

"It revolves around coaching and it revolves around the style of play."

Danny Cipriani has been named as Wilkinson's replacement for Saturday's Six Nations match against Ireland in the only change to the side that lost 15-9 to Scotland last week.

It is the first time the World Cup winner has been dropped by his country when fit, although Wilkinson - who became rugby's world record points scorer against Scotland - has been named among the replacements.

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Former England captain Lawrence Dallaglio also believes that Ashton has made the wrong decision in dropping the Newcastle fly-half.

"England have not got that many world-class players at this moment in time and to drop one of your better world-class players I don't think is necessarily the right decision," he said.

"I'm disappointed that Jonny's not playing, not at the expense of Danny Cipriani because I think it's right that he comes into the team.

"But it's a big call to come in and ask him to make the difference. One change is not going to make the difference."

Gomarsall added in his BBC Sport column: "I'm sure everyone will have an opinion on Jonny's form, but I just see it as a failing that we've got a player who has scored more points in world rugby than anyone else and yet he gets dropped.

"Why is that? Why isn't he playing to the best of his ability? We've seen it time and time again in his career to date, so why not now?

"I think he has been massively harshly dealt with."

Speaking earlier, Newcastle Falcons chief Steve Bates said it was a crazy decision to drop Wilkinson.

"I was very surprised he was left out. It is a ridiculous decision in terms of the performance of the team as a whole," said Bates.

"But he will bounce back and be incredibly positive and want to play."

Bates, who has been appointed interim director of rugby at Kingston Park following John Fletcher's departure on Wednesday, said Wilkinson's below-par performance was not solely to blame for the Calcutta Cup defeat.

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Feature: Wilkinson's troubled Six Nations

"It seems to me that the decision is about saying, 'this is a symptom, we will treat the symptom', rather than treating the actual cause of the problem.

"The cause of the problem was the pack didn't play very well and didn't control the ball and gave away too many penalties - most of which were the forwards - which allowed them to kick territory and goals," he said.

"Jonny, on the other hand, was given not much decent ball, kicked his goals - I am not sure what you want from him in those conditions much more than that.

"He will probably be the first to admit it wasn't his finest game, but in very difficult circumstances those guys in those positions can only play if you create the opportunities for them to play."

Danny wants to be a pretty special player in international rugby, and if he wants to do that, he cannot ignore his defensive game Mike Ford on Cipriani

And Bates predicts a baptism of fire for Cipriani, saying: "It is not going to be an easy game for him. His talents, I don't think, are particularly suited to playing Ireland at Twickenham, and I think he will find it a real challenge."

England defence coach Mike Ford, however, has no qualms about Cipriani's abilities to take over from the tough-tackling Wilkinson.

"At times he might switch, but 80 or 90% of the time he will be defending at 10," he said.

"The key thing for me is that he fronts up in that channel.

"Danny wants to be a pretty special player in international rugby, and if he wants to do that, he cannot ignore his defensive game."