Wilkinson is the shining light in England's opening Autumn International defeat

Rugby Union is starting to get exciting again. With only two years until the World Cup in New Zealand and six years until the tournament hits British soil, there is plenty to draw wide-spread attention to the game. However, since the heroics of 2007 where England grafted their way to the World Cup Final, the national side has seen a series of high profile setbacks restrict their progress. The retirement of key figures such as Lawrence Dallaglio, Jason Robinson and Martin Johnson has meant that players with little international experience have had to step up and perform. Little consistency in the English line-up has meant the team has never really gelled and ahead of the opening match of the Autumn Internationals last weekend the first XV was low on national team game time.

However,  one crucial return to fitness and form meant that it wasn't all doom and gloom in the lead up to the game against Australia. Jonny Wilkinson's move from Newcastle to Toulon in the Summer was seen by some as the last roll of the dice for the injury prone number 10 but so far its been a huge success. He has managed to find the form and happiness in the game that makes him Union's most potent ever weapon. Wilkinson is the highest test point scorer of all time and recent research from Gillette Winter Defence has revealed that England have won 78% of their games over the last ten years with him playing versus 47% of their games when he has been missing.

The research unsuprisingly revealed  that Wilkinson's attacking impact is an average of 3 points per game for England. However it also revealed that with him playing England concede an average of 4 points less a game which is backed up by his average tackle count of 8.8 per game. It seems as though Wilkinson has returned to the World stage when Johnson needed him most and at a great time for him personally in his career.

Therefore it was no suprise that in the lead up to the clash with Australia the attention and expectation of the nation fell upon Jonny's shoulders. As always he thrived under the pressure and although England lost to an emerging Australian side Wilkinson was most definitely back to his best, kicking 9 points, tackling hard and leading on and off the pitch (click the link above to see extended highlights on BBC iPlayer).

The Autumn Internationals are mostly definitely a time for England to experiment, gel and grow as a team. The learnings that Martin Johnson will take from the series will define the squad that goes into next years Six Nations and the success of that team will certainly have an impact on the team going into the 2011 World Cup. One thing is certain - The Wilkinson Effect is alive and kicking and English coaches, players and fans will want to keep it that way for the foreseeable future.