Wilkinson at No 10 for Lions warm-up

Eleven days ago Jonny Wilkinson pitched up in Gloucester to play for his immediate future as a British and Irish Lion. Next Monday night the most celebrated rugby figure of the age will perform against Argentina at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, with the Lions No 10 shirt on his back and the vice-captaincy of the side in his custody.

Eleven days ago Jonny Wilkinson pitched up in Gloucester to play for his immediate future as a British and Irish Lion. Next Monday night the most celebrated rugby figure of the age will perform against Argentina at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, with the Lions No 10 shirt on his back and the vice-captaincy of the side in his custody.

As few honours in sport are easily earned - "nothing in rugby comes for free," Wilkinson said yesterday on hearing news of his inclusion - it is rare indeed for a player to don the red jersey having provided so little evidence of form and fitness.

There again, Wilkinson is not any old player. He is not any old person, either. The man who dropped the goal that won a World Cup for England was at his modest, self-effacing best yesterday as he relived the torment of an injury-ravaged 18 months, and acknowledged the debt he owed to a Lions management prepared to give him every last opportunity to salvage something from the wreckage surrounding him.

He could not have been more convincing had he been coached by Alastair Campbell, which, come to think of it, he probably was, given Campbell's appearance at the team announcement, resplendent in his Lions training gear.

Sir Clive Woodward, the head coach, had confirmed 24 hours previously that if Wilkinson had turned in a scratchy performance at Kingsholm a week ago last Sunday, he would not have been added to the 44-man squad for this summer's Test series in New Zealand, let alone been asked to play against the Pumas. Was Wilkinson aware of the importance of that game in Gloucester? Did he treat it as his own personal final eliminator?

"There was something of that nature about the game, although because it was important to the Newcastle club as a whole, I wouldn't want to stress that aspect of it," he replied. "Actually, I enjoyed the situation in which I found myself. I'd far rather be fighting for something than presuming it, and I'd far rather be backed into a corner than be allowed to rest on my laurels.

"In rugby, you earn your success and your right to play. I haven't earned anything this season, and I particularly hate the feeling that I haven't earned the respect and the confidence of the players around me. I'm grateful for this opportunity and I hope very much that I come up to expectations. How close am I to my best? Quite honestly, I have no idea of what my best is. I suspect my best is very different from my best of a year and a half ago. My expectations have changed. The things I ask of myself now are not those I asked of myself during the World Cup."

Michael Owen, one of two captains who led Wales to a first Grand Slam in more than a quarter of a century when they completed a clean sweep in this season's Six Nations Championship, will lead the Lions from the No 8 position, with two of his countrymen, the Neath-Swansea Ospreys wing Shane Williams and the Newport-Gwent Dragons scrum-half Gareth Cooper, alongside him in the starting line-up.

Ireland provide the biggest contingent, their half-dozen players including the Leinster centre Gordon D'Arcy, who, like Wilkinson, has played precious little rugby of late.

If this experimental midfield comes off for Woodward, he will raise a glass or two in a spirit of relieved celebration.

Woodward did not consider any of the five tourists from Sale, all of whom are scheduled to play against Pau in this weekend's European Challenge Cup final.

Neither did he consider his two French-based Welshmen, Gareth Thomas and Stephen Jones, who are still in the thick of it on the club front, or the Leicester flanker Neil Back, who is due to appear before a Rugby Football Union disciplinary tribunal tonight charged with clouting Joe Worsley, of Wasps, during the Premiership Grand Final at Twickenham last Saturday.

In addition, five players - the Cardiff Blues centre Tom Shanklin, his fellow Welsh midfielder Gavin Henson, a third centre in Will Greenwood of Harlequins, the Bath prop Matthew Stevens and the Saracens flanker Richard Hill - are struggling for fitness. Woodward remains confident that this high-powered quintet will be fit for consideration for the opening game in New Zealand, against Bay of Plenty in Rotorua on 4 June.

For Owen, there are no fitness concerns. "I haven't stopped smiling since Clive asked me to captain the side," he said. And yes, he was smiling.

BRITISH & IRISH LIONS (v Argentina; Cardiff, Monday 23 May): G Murphy (Ireland); D Hickie (Ireland), O Smith (England), G D'Arcy (Ireland), S Williams (Wales); J Wilkinson (England), G Cooper (Wales); G Rowntree (England), S Byrne (Ireland), J Hayes (Munster), M O'Kelly (Ireland), D Grewcock (England), S Taylor (Scotland), L Moody (England), M Owen (Wales, capt). Replacements: S Thompson (England), J White (England), D O'Callaghan (Ireland), M Corry (England), C Cusiter (Scotland), R O'Gara (Ireland), S Horgan (Ireland).