Imperative England utilise Wilkinson’s knowledge to make Red Rose bloom again

Tie perfectly knotted, suit simply impeccable, barely a graze on his face and looking more like a movie matinee idol than rugged rugby player, Jonny Wilkinson simply exuded class.

It was barely conceivable that less than 60 minutes earlier he had kicked England to the most historic win of their existence and his life had changed forever.

Yet, though the ravenous pack of journalists and broadcasters descended on him like a multitude of charging Richie McCaws, Wilkinson retained an unerring calm and poise.

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It was hard not to be impressed by the man – on the field he had produced the crucial play but off it he was just as composed under the barrage of media pressure.

With cameras flashing from all angles, eager reporters desperately jostling to pitch their own pertinent question in this momentous hour, it would have been so easy for him to turn, run from the bowels of the Telstra Stadium and escape to the sanctity of the team bus, or at least just give a cursory interview.

All bar one of England’s World Cup-winning squad had unexpectedly started to enter the Sydney media room, group by group, unannounced and free to mingle with the press while replenishing their energy supplies at the buffet table.

For the waiting press, it was like a cheetah deciding which gazelle to attack first – Johnson, Dallaglio, Moody, Robinson, Greenwood... the list went on.

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However, when Wilkinson arrived there was no debate as to who was everyone’s quarry.

He did not shirk, though, or seek that exit. For the next 10 minutes, he coolly answered each question, turning to look each inquisitor in the eye and offer his insight, eloquently, frankly and with all the grace people had learned to expect from one of the world’s most professional sportsmen.

As he turned to me, I hardly registered his answer as I watched incredulous that, despite all that incessant glare and the enormity of the feat he had just achieved, barely a single bead of sweat perspired from his forehead.

You had to wonder if he really was some sort of cyborg machine.

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Many team-mates around him were rightly lauding and savouring the moment.

The image of a grinning Leeds Tykes’ Mark Regan – a non-playing member of that triumphant 2003 squad – with a beer in one hand, World Cup under the arm and grazing on sandwiches with a winner’s medal draped around his neck, will forever be ingrained in my memory.

The colourful hooker, already in party mood, was the polar opposite to Wilkinson but did helpfully gain me access to the team coach to secure an exclusive interview with one of the squad’s few Yorkshiremen, Mike Tindall, who was nursing a swollen knee.

The heroic fly-half, though, while in that media spotlight retained his dignified, almost regal presence, and it became abundantly clear to all what it takes to be a champion.

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Even as Wilkinson recollected the famous extra-time drop goal that ended Australia’s hopes and secured one of the greatest feats in British sporting history, you sensed he was still annoyed with himself for letting the game get to that point.

Let us not forget he had missed earlier kickable efforts, something which would have irked him, yet it was a mark of the man that he went on to produce the seminal moment with his weaker boot.

Other players have developed that skill but few, if any, in the world would have been able to execute it with such aplomb on such a momentous occasion – with just 26 seconds remaining in extra-time of a World Cup final.

But, as he announced his retirement from international rugby this week, it was easy to understand his parting shot that he will “never truly be satisfied.”

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A player who continually pushed himself through every barrier, both mentally and physically, Wilkinson will be remembered as English rugby’s golden emblem.

If not for a torrid succession of injuries, his 91 caps would have been far exceeded and, while his attacking brilliance was less obvious in recent years, there is no denying he was more than just a mechanical kicking machine.

Wilkinson’s prowess in the tackle belied someone playing his position – fly-halves are not supposed to hit so hard, if at all – and the sight of him crunching a marauding forward in midfield lifted team-mates just as much as one of his soaring conversions.

Also, while often attacked for playing too flat and not possessing an incisive passing game, Will Greenwood – his long-time centre who scored 31 Test tries – would argue otherwise.

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Granted, Wilkinson may never have been sprinkled with the instinctive flair and invention of the mesmeric All Black Daniel Carter, but there have been few better all-round number 10s.

Now 32, the decision to step down from his beloved England must have been difficult but his powers have certainly been waning.

Wilkinson’s performances at the last World Cup – eight years after that defining moment – were relatively sedate but that charge could be levelled at the majority of the squad.

However, it remained unlikely he would be able to assert his authority in the new regime, whatever that may be, given the apparent emphasis on new blood for the 2012 Six Nations.

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Also, as he is currently employed in France with Toulon, the RFU’s decision not to employ foreign-based players also meant his Test future was in doubt.

It is, though, acutely sad that such a distinguished performer had to go out amid the shambolic and embarrassing affair of that doomed World Cup tournament in New Zealand.

If only some of his colleagues had possessed the same unwavering professionalism and integrity, a dismal quarter-final exit against France could so easily have been avoided.

Whether the Red Rose will ever find such a gifted replacement remains to be seen. Leicester’s Toby Flood, his long-time Newcastle team-mate until 2008, is the favourite to continue the role he secured this autumn but he, too, is not seen as the sort of incendiary device they may require.

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Owen Farrell – the Saracens tyro and son of new England assistant Andy – might add a more dynamic approach while Leicester’s George Ford, younger brother of Leeds’ Joe and newly-named International Rugby Board junior player of the year, is another in the frame.

What is certain is that, if England are ever to repeat that 2003 victory and rule the world once more, they need more players of Wilkinson’s calibre.

It is imperative he now passes on his knowledge, experience and insight so that, hopefully, someone else will soon be able to handle that relentless glare with similar effortless cool.

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