Not the keenest sword in town

He is considered to be the best flyhalf in world rugby and, at the age of 24, is already his country's leading points-scorer but to meet Jonny Wilkinson you would never say so.

Facing the media he has a startled, nervous look about him; talks about the overbearing pressure of big games, the anxiety he suffers and says he would never want to be David Beckham.

England’s two most famous team sportsmen have been in touch with one another to offer support in their respective quests to live up to what England expects and Wilkinson, staggeringly considering the pressure rugby goal-kickers can be put under, said of the footballer’s penalty miss against Turkey: “I can’t imagine taking a penalty like that.”

Beckham apparently quipped that he had been spending too much time with Wilkinson after putting his penalty attempt over the bar and, in his only attempt at levity in the course of a long session with the media, the rugby player said: “I’m going to try and keep my kicks firmly over the bar. The pressure he (Beckham) was put under afterwards… he’s self-control and discipline was sumfink (sic) else…he did receive a fair bit of pressure. It was a fair reflection to be able to stand up to that and the end result was quite happy for us.

“I think fair play to the guy. I think it’s not just being on the pitch I think it’s off the pitch as well…I don’t know where he gets his spare minutes from. I’m glad I’ve got my privacy,” quipped one of the most watched players at rugby’s World Cup.

With the question-and-answer session starting to have the feel of therapy with a roomful of psychologists Wilkinson was almost the antithesis of the super-confident sportsmen.

Talking about his approach to the England vs South Africa game he said. “I never think about whether I relish the opportunity or whether it effects me in any way. I just prepare for the game, and in games like this I do get nervous. I do do a lot of hard work and I like to feed on that as much as I can, and if it does go well I suppose I like to thank the hard work I put in.

“I never think about whether I relish it because the prospect of playing in these big games does cause a lot of anxious feelings. You start to worry about letting people down and not doing your best.”

In a ghosted column he’s writing during the World Cup – a column which apparently has to be e-mailed to his father for perusal before it goes to print – Wilkinson also struck a strange chord. “For me, one of the other challenges out here is to enjoy myself, the World Cup, the rugby, it all means so much that my natural inclination is to regard it all as work and not as enjoyment.

“I have a tendency to get into the mindset where I see this all as just a series of tasks; get to the pitch, do my work, get off, get back to the hotel. And once I’m back in the hotel, the danger is to stay too much on my own in my room. I think too much about the training I’ve done or last night’s game and get too inward.”

This seeming lack of self-confidence is at odds with the amazing achievements of the England team’s lynchpin. The man who is listed in England’s media guide as Jonny Wilkinson MBE is without a doubt the finest all-round flyhalf in the game.

He became England’s leading points-scorer when he set an individual Six Nations record scoring 35 points for England against Italy to overtake his club manager at the Newcastle Falcons Rob Andrew.

After scoring 16 points in England’s opening match against Georgia his tally now stands at 720 points from 47 appearances – giving him an average (Springboks take note) of just over 15 points for every game he plays.

The man who won his first cap at the age of 18 also holds the record of 89 points for a Six Nations tournament and has been instrumental in taking England to the No1 ranking in world rugby.

He is an exceptionally hard worker and while he might be diffident off the field he comes alive on it for, as he says, “once that whistle’s gone you’re into the reaction process of adapting to what’s going on – you can run various scenarios through your head but once that whistle goes you’re into a state when you’ve got to trust your own ability and your own preparation.

“That’s the bit I like – I like being out there and knowing that you can only do what you can do out there. Beforehand there’s always that fear that you can do more.”

That fear of failure has turned him into a goal-kicking machine – his four steps back, five steps sideways, followed by a distinctly golfing stance, kicking style having been honed to perfection through hours of practice.

Wilkinson’s goal-kicking feats have tended to deflect attention from his general play but he is the complete package; able to bring to bear the whole array of flyhalf skills while being a strong and committed tackler to boot.

He is well aware that he is a target of opposition teams – get Wilkinson and you get England – but says that physical confrontation is part of rugby and that in every match “we’ll all be involved in situations that will be hard-fought and aggressive and we’ll have to stand up to it.”

He may sound apprehensive when talking about it, but rising to the occasion is what he does best; providing the cutting edge that could make England champions of the world.