‘He is Jonny of Toulon, he is the King of Toulon’

Just as Brian O’Driscoll wanted to leave the international stage with a Six Nations medal around his neck, so Jonny Wilkinson has his eyes firmly focussed on a gilt-edged finale to a glittering rugby career.

The Toulon talisman has not yet officially announced his retirement at the end of the season, and those around him are keeping their lips firmly sealed, but there seems little doubt the 34-year-old former England and Lions fly-half is playing his final games in the weeks ahead. He has as many as six left in him – if Toulon take the long route to the Top 14 final as well as the European final – or perhaps as few as three if things don’t go according to plan. What is not in doubt is that, in spite of limping out of the quarter-final win against Leinster with a hamstring injury, the first of those will be against Munster in Marseille tomorrow.

Even though Wilkinson has slowed over the years and has less of an immediate impact on games than in previous years, he remains the brains and the engine of Toulon. His influence brings a tranquillity to their play – which releases the attacking potential outside him — and a unity of purpose that might otherwise be lacking from a side with more foreign personnel that a UN delegations. Perhaps this is why Toulon owner Mourad Boudjellal went to such lengths to bring Wilkinson from Newcastle to France in 2009 and why he is not pressuring him into announcing his decision on whether to stay or step down.

“The après-Jonny will be a bit awkward,” says Boudjellal. “He is a player who brings a magic and something a little bit special to the club. We knew the Umaga years; these are the Wilkinson years. I don’t know who will bring us the years of tomorrow. But guys like these don’t come along often. A lot was said about Brian O’Driscoll. I have huge respect for him but there is a big difference between Jonny and Brian O’Driscoll — Jonny won the World Cup. It is an important difference.”

Wilkinson was just 18 when he first played for England, coming off the bench to replace Mike Catt on the wing against Ireland in the 1998 Five Nations. He got his first start at fly-half on England’s Tour to Hell when they lost 76-0 to Australia, and then settled in at inside centre. His desire to tackle immediately set him apart from other fly-halves, notably Rob Andrew who was still playing inside him for Newcastle and England. With a superb boot as well, the succession was assured on both counts, although Clive Woodward’s peculiar decision not to play him against South Africa in the quarter-final of the 1999 World Cup almost cost the coach his job.

As it was, Wilkinson emerged as one of the key players in England’s bid for the 2003 World Cup – his drop goal in extra-time giving Europe its first ever RWC title.

That drop goal made Wilkinson a national hero and an international superstar.

“Yes he likes to remind me of that,” says Toulon team-mate Matt Giteau who was playing for the Wallabies that day in Sydney. “Constantly. He knocks over a drop in training and says: ‘There you go, remember that one’?” Injuries have walked — or limped — with Wilkinson since that day. He played for the Lions in 2005 but didn’t play for England again until 2007 when he took them to another World Cup final. He finished with 97 international caps before quitting at the end of 2011.

Since then, he has made Toulon his purpose and these days, as Boudjellal points out, it is very much Wikinson’s team.

“Jonny’s influence on the club has been huge,” says Giteau. “It is unfair to even start to quantify it. It is just his willingness and drive to get better. He expects the same standards from everyone else. He is one of the game’s worldwide figure, one of the greats. When he talks, you listen. And that is not just the young guys coming through, that is the senior players as well. It is as if you need to prove that you belong in his company.”

Even the peerless Dan Carter, a better all-round footballer than Wilkinson, bends his knee. “If I was thinking about the best rugby players of all time he would be up there,” Carter said recently.

“He’s the ultimate professional, probably works harder than any other player in the world, and deserves all the accolades, rewards and success he’s had in his career.”

The French media refers to him as Lord Jonny but Boudjellal goes one better.

“Jonny is a king. He is Jonny of Toulon, he is the King of Toulon. We all know that Jonny wants and I hope that the entire team will be able to give it to him.”

What Jonny wants is to go one better than last year’s European Cup triumph and guide his team to the European and domestic double. Starting with a win over Munster.