There are some sportsmen whose value to the team is so great that they defy the usual conventions of selection.

That is why after three years of injury, countless hours of surgery, many months of recuperation, seven attempted comebacks and just 45 minutes of rugby in the last three months, Jonny Wilkinson will pull on an England shirt once more on Saturday in the Six Nations opener against Scotland at Twickenham.

English rugby should cross its fingers and say: 'Welcome back.'

It will be a welcome back to the golden boy who sends shirts and memorabilia whizzing off the shelves like rugby's version of David Beckham.

It will be a welcome back to the bravest, most influential number 10 England have ever possessed, the man whose last and greatest deed for his country was dropping the famous last-gasp goal which won the World Cup in Sydney 1,164 days ago.

It is a courageous decision by new England head coach Brian Ashton.

But is it a gamble?

It has to be, considering Wilkinson has played little more than half a game for Newcastle since his most recent lay-off with a lacerated kidney.

But it is a gamble Ashton had to take.

After the humiliation of the autumn internationals - when losses to Argentina and South Africa and the boos around Twickenham cost Andy Robinson his job - England were anxious for a new direction.

Ashton, who had already supplied a new captain in Phil Vickery and a fresh international base at the University of Bath, has given them the hope they craved, with the most adventurous of selections - even if the men to whom he has turned have a good few miles under the bonnet.

There is the tried-and-tested brilliance of Jason Robinson, who comes out of international retirement hoping to re-enact his World Cup final touchdown.

There is rugby league great Andy Farrell, who has just seven starts for Saracens at inside-centre but is charged with injecting savvy into a three-quarter midfield which was woeful in the autumn.

Most of all, however, there is Wilkinson.

Of course, it is unfair to heap so much pressure and expectation on one man - especially one whose career of late has read like the index to Gray's Anatomy.

Yet the truth is that England have been floundering around, inept and rudderless on the pitch in Wilkinson's absence.

Charlie Hodgson, recovering from cruciate surgery, manfully tried to fill the void but was forever cowed by the shadow of England's greatest number 10.

Others, such as Olly Barkley and Andy Goode, have also failed.

A fit Wilkinson, however, guarantees England will keep the scoreboard ticking.

In 52 matches, he has scored 817 points for his country. Without the injuries, he would be out of sight as rugby's leading points scorer - considering Neil Jenkins' world record tally of 1049 came from 87 matches for Wales.

The point is Wilkinson is a points machine, cool and collected under pressure - a player with metronomic reliability either kicking goals or finding touch, the sort which gives tired forwards an added spring in their stride.

Ashton has already paid tribute to the ``staggering'' contribution Wilkinson has brought to training, and there is little doubt the dearth of individuals capable of inspiring those around them is what has cost England most since thedays of Martin Johnson, Lawrence Dallaglio, Richard Hill and Neil Back.

Statistics do not always tell the full story - but with Wilkinson, they are conclusive.

With him in the team, England won 43 out of 52 matches - a success rate of 82%. Without him, since his debut in 1998, they have won 23 and lost 23 - a success rate of just 50%.

Wilkinson guarantees intensity, bravery in the tackle and the kind of canny decision-making glaring by its absence in the autumn.

Without such qualities, England have no chance of challenging for the Six Nations title - let alone defending their world crown.

That is why the return of Wilkinson perhaps is not so much of a gamble, after all.