Rob Andrew: Wilkinson is world's best

13 April 2012

Jonny Wilkinson is the best fly half in the world at 21 because of one significant change to his mental attitude within the last 12 months.

In the future, when people study his career, the Test match which England won against South Africa in Bloemfontein last summer will be viewed with increasing significance. As a result of his performance there he really began to believe in himself for the first time as an international fly half.

He came back from the tour a different player and has not missed an opportunity since to build on that success. Prior to Bloemfontein there had been such uncertainty in his mind that he worried about losing his place.

Paul Grayson was still in the England squad and there had been talk that maybe Austin Healey would be given a chance following his conversion to fly half by Leicester. Naturally enough, those possibilities preyed on his mind and having to miss the first Test in South Africa because of food poisoning did nothing to ease that uncertainty.

Despite the illness and not having played for the best part of seven weeks, Jonny came back the following week and dominated the match to such an extent that there was no longer any argument about the best No.10 in England. Seeing off all the national competition gave him the self-belief to push his game on to higher levels and become the best around inter-nationally.

This time last year there were certainly two, probably three genuinely world-class players in the England team, Martin Johnson and Lawrence Dallaglio for sure and there was a case to be made for Neil Back. I would not necessarily have put Jonny in that category then but I most certainly would now along with Matt Dawson.

Iain Balshaw has the potential to get there in 12 months' time but what makes Jonny's progress so staggering is that he is still only 21.

Now that he has that self-confidence, there is no limit to what he can achieve and it's quite frightening to think that he is still learning.

He will end up with a massive number of points for England, as if he hasn't already! This is only his third season in the Championship and I note that he has gone shooting past the record of 185 which I held jointly with Grayson for the most English points in the tournament.

Knowing Jonny, the one disappointing aspect of his overall game against Italy - where his 35 points broke Ronan O'Gara's Six Nations record of 32 - will have been the last missed conversion which would have given 14 out of 14. The kicking area had been badly cut up by a scrum and it took him ages to decide where to put the ball that would give him a decent foothold.

If he gets another 13 back there for Newcastle in the Tetley's Bitter Cup Final against Harlequins on Saturday, everyone in the north-east will be thrilled.

Overall, despite the result, I would give England no more than six out of 10. They did well to score 80 points but they know they could have been better, even allowing for the fact that such matches are hugely difficult. When the public expect a cricket score, you really are on a hiding to nothing.

They played very well in the second half but made the mistake in the first half-hour of expecting it all to happen as a matter of course. They forced it too much, too soon and half-a-dozen passes went astray, passes which, against stronger opposition, would not have been attempted.

Had they shown in the first half the same technical discipline of the second then they probably would have scored 100. Giving Jason Robinson a sniff of what it's about was a good exercise, even if he didn't get the ball, but Italy deserve a lot of credit their first-half play. They showed spirit, determination and skill, scored two very good tries and competed well in the set-pieces.

With Dominguez and Troncon to return at half back and two of their three remaining matches in Rome, they still have a chance of getting something out of the Championship. They must not panic.

England, remember, scored six tries against Wales in Cardiff. They only managed four more playing at Twickenham and my advice to Italy is to concentrate on how well they did in the first half when the English scrum was not as dominant.

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