Watchout, Scotland. Jonny Wilkinson is playing for England today for the first time since his Drop Goal in Extra Time of the 2003 Rugby Union World Cup Final against Australia won England the World Cup.
Also playing is Andy Farrell, who used to be a Rugby League player for Wigan Warriors and England but has now switched codes to Rugby Union. This week the Scotland coach admitted that Farrell is probably the best player in the world.
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Wilko, fit for purpose
by PAUL SIMS
2nd February 2007
England's 2003 World Cup winning hero returns today against Scotland.
He is one of sport's most reluctant superstars.
But today - after 1,167 days, 11 injuries and a series of ill-fated comebacks - the spotlight will turn once again to Jonny Wilkinson.
England's Rugby World Cup hero has been forced to watch from the sidelines ever since his dramatic extra-time drop goal won the tournament in 2003.
Despite the MBE, the BBC sports personality award and reported £4 million annual earnings, his long absence from international duty has left him a tortured soul.
For such an obsessive competitor it has been a long and hard road.
Limited to a number of cameo appearances for his club, Newcastle Falcons, Wilkinson endured a nightmare of career-threatening injuries, including a fractured vertebrae, knee ligament damage, a torn thigh muscle and, more recently, a lacerated kidney.
Many were left asking if the fly-half, the country's record points scorer, would ever play again. The lowest point came in January 2005 when he smashed his knee during a European Cup tie in Perpignan.
He later admitted that he sat in the dressing room crying tears of frustration, fearing he may never play rugby again.
"I massively lost my way," he said.
His misery was compounded when he split up from his girlfriend, Diana Stewart, the former Marks & Spencer model.
England's greatest sporting moment since 1966: Jonny Wilkinson scores the Drop Goal in Extra Time of the 2003 Rugby World Cup Final against Australia that won England the World Cup
Their three-year romance began in 2001 as Miss Stewart, 27, studied for a Spanish and German degree at Newcastle University.
They shared a love of sport but Miss Stewart moved to London to attend theatre school soon after graduation while Wilkinson remained in Newcastle.
His devotion to rugby and her pursuit of a career with Sky Sports News saw them drift apart and in November 2004 they confirmed that they had split up.
Wilkinson refused to give up on his international career and threw himself into training, using the gym every day at the Northumberland farmhouse he shares with his brother.
Shunning fast food, chocolate and alcohol, he rediscovered his drive for perfection and control.
It was no different to his teenage years. When friends were out partying, Wilkinson was typically in the gym.
"I live to play rugby," he said recently.
"It has been my life since I was four. Watching was so hard when all I wanted to do was show people I was willing to put my body on the line every week." The reluctant sex symbol, who describes fame as "an empty concept", lives surrounded by those he trusts.
His mother Philippa and father Phil, who is his manager, live nearby and his brother Mark also plays for the Falcons.
Now, as he prepares to pull on his No 10 jersey for the 53rd time, his dream of picking up from where he left off with England has finally come true.
At 4pm in front of 80,000 at Twickenham, he will line up alongside his teammates to face Scotland in the opening game of their RBS Six Nations campaign.
Remarkably, considering the run of setbacks, he will do so with a bank balance buoyed by lucrative deals with Adidas, Lucozade, Northern Rock, M&S, Travelex, Boots, and fashion brand Hackett - as well as £250,000 earnings from his club.
English sport is holding out for a hero - so, will Jonny be good?
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