England face the nightmare prospect of losing Jonny Wilkinson for their entire World Cup campaign after a scan revealed he suffered ligament damage to his right ankle in a training-ground accident this week.
Barring an improbably swift recovery, the 2003 World Cup winner is highly unlikely to play in the pivotal Pool A game against South Africa tomorrow week.
There are even fears that his World Cup is already over. One of Britain's leading arthroscopic surgeons predicts Wilkinson will be sidelined for a minimum of three weeks and says it could take six weeks for the injury to heal fully. Simon Moyes, who operates at the Wellington Hospital in London, told the Guardian the outhalf would be hard-pressed to resume ahead of schedule: "He will be getting physio all day every day but I really do believe three weeks would be needed to get back on form and I fear it will be nearer six."
This is exactly the gloomy news Brian Ashton was dreading. The mere fact England will be making no further official comment on Wilkinson's condition before Tuesday betrays their concern and the management could yet find themselves faced with a horrible dilemma. If Olly Barkley were to be injured, Ashton would have little option but to summon an emergency outhalf and send Wilkinson home.
Comparisons are being made with the case of soccer's David Beckham, who suffered a similar injury in a European Championship qualifier against Estonia on June 6th. He took painkillers to allow him to help Real Madrid clinch the Spanish title on June 17th but aggravated the problem and did not play again until July 21st, when he was still well short of being 100 per cent fit.
Even if Wilkinson is passed fit against the Springboks he would be even more of a target than usual. There will be a huge temptation to take the risk as England do not have massive depth in the goalkicking department, but the South African captain, John Smit, felt it was foolhardy to rush an injured player back prematurely.
"It hampers you mentally if you play when you're not fully fit," said the Springbok hooker, due to make his own return from a long-term hamstring problem against Samoa on Sunday.
The South Africa coach, Jake White, whose opening pronouncement in Paris yesterday was to ask the French nation to "support us against the English", was sympathetic to a degree but will not be ruling Wilkinson out of the equation until the last moment.
"He's a very important player for England as well as being one of the best players in the world. If there's any likelihood of him getting on the field, I'm sure Brian Ashton will put him on the field. I spoke to Brian yesterday and he said they were so used to seeing Jonny on the ground that they carried on training."
England will trust they suffer no further injuries when they take on the United States in their opening match, in Lens on Saturday.
The hooker Mark Regan has already stressed that teams who rely on just one player cannot hope to succeed at a World Cup.
"Obviously (injury) can have an effect but that's why we selected 30 players," he said. "Olly played well against France and we have a world-class medical team. We need 30 players to win a World Cup."
That said, it will be a significant blow to the tournament if Wilkinson is a mere spectator throughout. He is a quicker healer than most but he does get a lot of practice. Yesterday, he was chosen in a World Cup dream team selected from the greatest names to have featured in the tournament. Even Australians will be disappointed if he plays no part this time.
