It has been so long since Jonny Wilkinson played rugby for England that the prospect of him facing Scotland on Saturday seems surreal. The career of Twickenham's favourite son has been stuck on pause almost from the second he landed the winning drop-goal in the 2003 World Cup final and some were concerned he would never relocate the fast-forward button.
Instead, having spent three years in and out of rehab, the perennial English patient is suddenly back in his national team's starting line-up for the first time since that life-changing moment in Sydney. The presence of the former Britain rugby league captain Andy Farrell's name among a January blizzard of 13 changes, two of them positional, would normally have hogged the headlines, but there was no contest yesterday.
No wonder. There have been as many confirmed sightings of the Loch Ness monster since April 2003 as Wilkinson playing Six Nations rugby. Given the outhalf's chequered medical history, there is also clearly an element of risk attached to the decision of the new head coach, Brian Ashton, to whisk him into the Calcutta Cup starting line-up after only 50 minutes of competitive rugby in the past 12 weeks. What is impossible to deny is the instant sense of exhilaration and suspense on both sides of Hadrian's Wall.
Ashton's rationale is simple enough. He watched Wilkinson train last week, was hugely impressed by what he saw and, after a lengthy discussion with the player, decided there was as much chance of the 27-year-old being hurt playing for Newcastle as for England.
Importantly, Wilkinson's former director of rugby Rob Andrew was also in favour. "He is in a fantastic frame of mind and he was flying in training," said Andrew. "That's what convinced Brian. After having a long chat with Jonny he was convinced it was the right thing to do. I am sure it will be a massive morale boost for everyone, not just in the team, but around the country."
The statistics back up Andrew's optimism. England have enjoyed an 82 per cent success rate in the 52 Tests Wilkinson has been involved in. In the 46 matches they have played without him since his debut in 1998, that figure drops to 50 per cent. With 817 points, he is also England's record points-scorer.
Not even Ashton knows precisely what to expect, given that Farrell has played only seven first-team games of union as a centre. It could be said this England team is a mix of something old, something new, something borrowed from rugby league - Farrell and Jason Robinson - and, in the battered Wilkinson's case, something black and blue.
There is barely any resemblance to his predecessor Andy Robinson's last side - the only two players to retain the positions they filled against South Africa in November are Martin Corry, albeit minus the captain's armband, and Joe Worsley. Phil Vickery and Josh Lewsey, who must also feel like survivors of a particularly bad shipwreck, have been deployed in slightly different roles.
The key to the reshuffle is experience. Ashton does not have time to muck about and a lifetime in rugby has taught him that tossing a heap of youngsters into the crucible of Test rugby at the same time is a recipe for disaster.
The half-Norwegian Magnus Lund of Sale gets his chance, with Louis Deacon and Harry Ellis also profiting from their involvement in Leicester's win over Munster in Limerick.
ENGLAND(v Scotland): 15 Iain Balshaw (Gloucester); 14 Josh Lewsey (Wasps), 13 Mike Tindall (Gloucester), 12 Andy Farrell (Saracens), 11 Jason Robinson (Sale Sharks); 10 Jonny Wilkinson (Newcastle), 9 Harry Ellis (Leicester); 1 Perry Freshwater (Perpignan), 2 George Chuter (Leicester), 3 Phil Vickery (Wasps, capt), 4 Louis Deacon (Leicester), 5 Danny Grewcock (Bath), 6 Joe Worsley (Wasps), 7 Magnus Lund (Sale Sharks), 8 Martin Corry (Leicester).
