Best still to come from Wilkinson - O'Driscoll

Brian O’Driscoll has hailed Jonny Wilkinson’s return to Test rugby as “remarkable” – but insists the England matchwinner needs more time to recover his best form.

Wilkinson finally ended his injury-enforced exile, which dated back to the 2003 World Cup final, in England’s RBS 6 Nations opener against Scotland.

The Newcastle fly-half enjoyed a fairytale comeback, finishing with a 27-point haul – the highest by an Englishman against Scotland – and the man-of-the-match award.

His long absence, which coincided with England’s nightmare slump, became a distant memory as Scotland were crushed 42-20 at Twickenham.

England's confidence had been lifted and although Wilkinson failed to scale similar heights against Italy a week later, the Six Nations title had become a realistic target.

But O’Driscoll, who will lead Ireland against England in Saturday’s Croke Park showdown, knows the 2007 championship has yet to see the best of the 27-year-old.

“Jonny needs to be given time to get back into international rugby,” said the Lions skipper.

“Three years in the wilderness will have taken its toll and that’s what made his performance against Scotland all the more remarkable.

“It shows how mentally tough he is as well because it was a great display considering the pressure he was under. I imagine he will get consistently better the more he plays.

“Jonny has done so well so far. England were convincing winners against Scotland and ground out a result against Italy.

“Neither side played very well in the Italy match but it’s the sign of a good team that even when they don’t fire on all cylinders, they can still churn out results.

“Jonny seemed to have picked up where he left off the last time he was in an England jersey. He controls things so well.

“He’s is a pivotal character – and that’s the understatement of the year.

“He’s massively important to any side he’s played in and I don’t envisage it being any different this time around.”

The emergence of Andy Farrell at inside centre has also lifted English spirits with the rugby league convert making an encouraging start to his Test career.

But Ireland’s midfield will be a completely different proposition for Farrell after facing probably the two weakest backlines in the Six Nations.

O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy are the best centre partnership in the world - with the latter in lethal form at the moment – and Saturday’s contest will give a better indication of Farrell’s progress.

“Andy hasn’t done anything wrong. He’s suited to the style of play as a second receiver – Andy and Wilkinson like to mix things up,” said O’Driscoll.

“They’re both excellent passers of the ball and that gives England great width. Andy has a strong defensive game and has a lot of control.

“Italy was only his second rugby union international and he will only get better from here.”

O’Driscoll missed the heart-stopping 20-17 defeat by France with a hamstring strain and watched from the stands as Vincent Clerc ran in his match-winning try seven minutes into injury time.

Clerc’s late strike was the cruellest possible way for Ireland to open their Croke Park account and O’Driscoll, who is fit to face England, is desperate to mark their last match at Croke Park in 2007 with a victory.

“You can look at the France game in two different ways. There’s no longer the hype still surrounding our Grand Slam hopes,” he said.

“From that point of view there’s some pressure off us. But on the flip side, we have only two games at Croke Park this year and we’ve lost the first of them.

“We really don’t want the inaugural year of playing in Croke Park to end with two games, two losses.”