Never leave home without your Jonny...

With the Rugby World Cup just a matter of days away, one player, who was seemingly on the outside of the England team, now looks set to take centre stage once again.

Wilkinson is so much more to England than kicking alone

Despite all his injuries, loss of form and the fact that his is now the wrong side of thirty, England’s Jonny Wilkinson now looks set to usurp his old protégé, Toby Flood, the pretender to the throne that is England’s number ten. Whatever route Martin Johnson takes on Saturday, Wilkinson will be forever mentioned in the same sporting breath as Sir Geoff Hurst. Hurst famous for his World Cup winning hat-trick in football, synonymous with drama, even able to inspire the theme tune of a popular sporting quiz (with the commentary of Kenneth Wolstenholme). Wilkinson, despite a couple of wobbles during the 2003 tournament, held his nerve to slot not only his penalties, but the winning drop goal (remarkably with his weaker foot!) in their epic extra time final win against the hosts Australia.

The trademark Wilkinson stance.

Wilkinson at the absolute pinnacle of his sport, despite his age, (then only in his early twenties) paid the price for his tough tackling, all or nothing style. He missed the next thirty of England’s test matches before the World Cup of 2007, where he returned (after yet another injury) to steer a battered England, (having been thrashed in their first game without Wilkinson), to the final against South Africa. But for a bit of luck England could have gone on to win that tournament, but the fact that they made the final at all was almost astonishing and owed a lot to the experience and game play of their talisman.

Toby Flood can consider himself unfortunate. He did no wrong in the Six Nations, at least until the final match in Dublin. If this game was a one off for Flood, then his form has since plummeted and the Wales matches have forced manager Johnson into a rethink. Recalling Wilkinson for the final pre-finals match against the Irish, proved that the three time finalist Wilkinson still has what it takes to compete at the very highest level.

Wilkinson should extend his incredible record at the finals. Picked in 1999 he was dropped for the Quarter final defeat against the Springboks, but was first choice ever since (if fit). Not only will this be Wilkinson’s fourth World Cup, only eleven other players share this record, but he is the highest points scorer in the history of the tournament, has kicked the most penalties, and also has the highest amount of drop goals to his name.

With injury behind him can Jonny inspire England once again

Team mate and speedster Chris Ashton has waxed lyrical about his teammate this week. Wilkinson despite being surrounded by younger quicker teammates has been topping the shuttle run charts, proving that whilst he has the temperament and talent, he still has the athleticism to run the England side. The fact that he was the all time leading scorer in test history earlier this year, (before Dan Carter retook this title), having lost at least four years of his career, is also astonishing.

Pivotal in 2003, Johnson and Wilkinson have equally important roles in 2011

England have a tough task in New Zealand. If they are to win the group, they will need to start off with a convincing performance. Group B contains the aggressive Argentineans, the Scots, a banana skin in Georgia and also Romania. Sterner tests await. Winning the group should give them a quarter final against the French, the in-form Aussies in the semi should they overcome that, before the final. With ‘our Jonny’ playing and playing well, then anything is possible.