WITH THE eyes of all England on him after a fortnight in which his right to the playmaker’s shirt had been questioned as never before, Jonny Wilkinson turned and gave one of those behind-the-hand calls to his nearest team-mate, who promptly transferred the instructions down the line. There were five seconds to go to the start of the match, and Wilkinson had just changed the kick-off play.

“The middle of the pitch was quite wet and it was my call,” he said a couple of hours later, with only the merest trace of a rueful smile on that golden-boy countenance. “Looking back now, I may be slightly regretful of that.”

He had been trying to catch the Irish off balance with a short, straight chip. Instead the ball failed to bounce properly, and he tried to adjust by digging his foot underneath it. But he duffed it, and the ball bobbled unsteadily towards the opposition, not even reaching the 10-metre line. Immediately the green shirts were on the front foot.

He certainly did his best.

For the rest of the afternoon he scuttled and scurried with the ball in his hand, forever looking for that elusive line-break. There was virtually none of the sterile kicking out of hand that had disfigured England’s performance in Rome. But although the process was more pleasing to the senses, the result was not very different. The breaks did not materialise, and after 74 minutes Ireland were on the front foot again when Tommy Bowe scorched for the winning try without Wilkinson so much as laying a hand on him.

You can blame slow ball, and certainly there were countless occasions when England’s forwards massed around the breakdown like a flock of white-gowned midwives attending a particularly awkward and protracted delivery.

But a playmaker is a playmaker, and in the end you have to face the conclusion that although he may continue to perform with distinction in club rugby, Wilkinson no longer has what it takes to be a game-changer at international level with anything other than his boot.

At 18, Wilkinson embodied an enlightened approach to the game. As he approaches his 31st birthday, however, his over-developed sense of responsibility appears to have persuaded him that if the collective struggle is pursued in a righteous spirit, everything can be achieved. England’s progress under Martin Johnson suggests that something more is needed, and that it will not be forthcoming under the present blinkered leadership.

As ever, Wilkinson was honest to a fault. “It’s a hell of a feeling,” he said. “I’ve not felt like this for a long time. It feels like we’ve taken a big bang. But I think we can safely say there has to be a way to move forward. We’ve got to make the most of these next two games.

“We understand where we are and we’re working hard for each other. You go into a game and you’re thinking, ‘together we can do this.‘ You really don’t expect to lose.

“So when it hits you it hurts more because it’s the last thing you’re expecting.

“The belief is there,” Wilkinson insisted, but it is looking more and more like a delusion.

Guardian Service