Jonny Wilkinson would be the first to acknowledge he is not the best captain currently operating in English rugby. As long as Martin Johnson continues to pull on his boots for Leicester all other candidates must form a respectful queue, and at Wasps they still swear by Lawrence Dallaglio. Unfortunately for England, that pair's national service days are now behind them.
And so, with a certain amount of finger-crossing, Twickenham's top job has been lobbed at a player with an almost pathological aversion to the limelight. How ironic, on the morning of Wilkinson's accession, to read that the great man is now so paranoid he cannot even visit his barber without worrying whether a stranger is clocking him in the mirror. Instead he has his hair cut in a Gosforth kitchen and has all but given up going shopping in Newcastle. Even the cinema is a virtual no-go area, his adoring public having shown a tendency to ignore the big picture in favour of the shy bloke in the baseball cap in the back row.
Quite how this squeamishness in public squares with the highly personalised extracts from his new book being plastered across the pages of the Times is a matter for his advisers, but yesterday's announcement has ensured there will be no respite any time soon. Maybe he and Andy Robinson are working on the basis that Wilkinson's profile could not possibly get any higher; if so, they are whistling in the autumn winds. Even Wayne Rooney may have to crank things up between now and mid-November.
These are fascinating and potentially treacherous days for the nation's World Cup darling. If Wilkinson had inherited the armband at the peak of his form and fitness, with Sir Clive Woodward still around, his chances of being successful would be significantly higher. As it is, if you were picking an England side this morning based on club form this season, Wilkinson would struggle to make the bench. The Sale fly-half Charlie Hodgson has started well and Bath's Olly Barkley appeared to be coming good at the weekend. Wilkinson, less than two months into his comeback after surgery to repair nerve damage in his neck and shoulder, has yet to prove conclusively he is the authoritative player of old.
If Newcastle's Rob Andrew is to be believed, there is no problem: Wilkinson is simply easing his way back. The trouble is that England have no room for manoeuvre; even if the new captain is not in form in time for the autumn Tests, England will have no option but to play him, regardless of the new meritocratic broom Robinson is promising to wield. And what happens if Wilkinson's side lose to South Africa and Australia on home soil? If the golden boy's reputation becomes tarnished by association, the autograph hunters may start thinning out.
Frankly, though, the question is less whether Wilkinson is the best man to captain England - he was always the obvious long-term candidate - as whether the job will bring the best out of him. At Newcastle, where he is notionally sharing the leadership duties with the prop Ian Peel, he is so sensitive about the cult of the individual that he even refuses to be photographed alone for club promotional purposes. Captaincy by committee is much less feasible at Test level, particularly as England's stock of experienced players has dwindled substantially.
There is a powerful argument, however, that captaincy may be the making of Wilkinson, the missing ingredient that will prolong his career and steer England to even greater heights. By the very nature of the job, he will have to set aside his more monkish tendencies and worry about the well-being of others rather than just about himself and the poor bloke who fetches his practice balls. A touch less introspection could be to everyone's benefit.
And if England want a man who leads by example, no one else comes close. His ability as a collective tactician, capable of steering his side through tricky games when his forwards are under the cosh, remains to be seen but he will give as much of himself to the job as it is humanly possible to do.
Lest we forget, he also starts with the goodwill of all concerned, the media included. By not duffing that famous drop-kick in Sydney last November he may have sacrificed a degree of privacy, but no one has anything less than total respect for his dedication and commitment. If England could select 15 Jonnys, they would.
