Jonny Wilkinson would have appreciated the Heineken Cup launch yesterday at Edinburgh Castle, a perfect venue for any drop-goal expert seeking a little extra height and distance. Given the weight of responsibility on his shoulders, England's new captain needs all the help he can get and Newcastle's director of rugby Rob Andrew is already pleading for his charge to be cut some slack before next month's Test programme.
Wilkinson once again spent over an hour satisfying autograph hunters after the Falcons' defeat at Wasps on Sunday before heading off to Loughborough for England's latest two-day training camp, and Andrew spent almost as long in the Scottish capital yesterday trying to deflate the expectation surrounding the 25-year-old, who is struggling to find his best form after eight months out through injury.
"We're all entering the next phase of the Jonny Wilkinson era and we will have to look at how we manage that," said Andrew, suggesting the player, his club and the England management needed to "plot a route" through an avalanche of press and public interest.
Andrew hopes part of that process will involve his fly-half signing a new three-year contract with Newcastle this December rather than moving south when his existing deal expires next year but, in the meantime, the former England stand-off believes people should not expect Wilkinson to become an inspirational leader overnight.
"I really think we're going to see him blossom over the next two to three years but let's not expect him to be Martin Johnson in November," he said. "He probably never will be. It took Will Carling and Martin Johnson some time to develop their own thoughts and style and I think Jonny needs that time as well."
"He's also got to deal with having a leadership role and dealing with things when they go wrong as well as right. He hates losing but I thought his demeanour on Sunday was good. Perhaps in earlier days we wouldn't have got him out of the dressing-room for two hours. He now has to deal with the players, the press and the public and I thought he dealt with it well. He's a perfectionist but he's maturing and he's recognising that he can't beat himself up all the time."
England's players, meanwhile, were mostly restricted to light training after an arduous weekend because there will be no let-up when the Heineken Cup commences its 10th season next week.
The final will be played at Murrayfield for the first time, on the weekend of May 21-22, with the organisers hoping for a sell-out. All televised games this season will have a video referee while all citings for foul play will be referred to a central citing officer. Next season's tournament format has also been tweaked, the current matrix for allocating teams to pools being replaced by an open draw with only the top side from each country being seeded.
