Dunedin drubbing was lesson for Wilkinson

A shadow England team, featuring debutants Josh Lewsey and Pat Sanderson, had Danny Grewcock sent off, conceded nine tries and lost 64-22 to the All Blacks. Carisbrook, the traditional home of Test rugby in Dunedin, truly lived up to its reputation as the “House of Pain” for England that night.

Thirteen years later, Wilkinson is back in the city for England’s Rugby World Cup opener against Argentina on Saturday in Dunedin’s futuristic new stadium, which features a permanent glass roof.

Wilkinson struggles to remember exact details of the earlier Test defeat but the lessons remain clearly etched in his memory. He said: “It was a big building block in my life. Who knows what would have happened if you take that one away?

“We got hammered by a much better team and we learned what it takes to be the best that day. It has been important to me.

“We thought we knew what we were doing but you find out just how far short you are. I still have that lesson now and not just in rugby.

“Coming back you do realise how much following there is for rugby and how much pride there is in performance.

“It does give you that little boost to know that, when you come here to play, you have got to bring the best you have otherwise you will get hurt.”

Wilkinson faces an additional challenge this time because playing under the roof Otago Stadium will cause problems as well as solve them.

There won’t be any wind or rain but the famously-obsessive Wilkinson sees only unusual conditions to deal with.

Wilkinson is renowned for his countless hours of solo kicking practice but has never struck the ball in a stadium quite like this one.

The 30,000-seat Otago Stadium looks like a traditional rectangular ground except that it is completely enclosed in clear plastic.

“It is such a difference, such a one-off, that it becomes the variable,” Wilkinson said. “It affects the ball, it affects the strike, it affects the noise, the compression of the ball, the flight.

“There is so much to take into account. It is interesting: sterile conditions become the variable.”

Wilkinson, who is likely to start at stand-off against the Pumas after wresting the No 10 jersey back from Toby Flood, saw enough on his first visit to the ground to know that it is different even to Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium with its retractable roof.

“It is a different environment,” Wilkinson said. “Different balls, different temperature under the roof, different condensation, different number of people in there, different space under the roof, different volume of air. It is all in there.

“Thankfully, this stuff doesn’t go through your head when you are trying to kick the ball.”

Wilkinson will work through it all on Friday, which he said will be his first chance to actually kick the ball at the ground.

Former England prop Graham Rowntree, now assistant coach, made the 10th of his 54 England appearances against the Pumas at the 1995 World Cup, so is well-placed to advise current front rowers Andrew Sheridan, Dylan Hartley and Dan Cole about what to expect from an always physical side.

“Are they the best in the business? Well, we’ll see in this competition,” Rowntree said. “They’re always a handful as a nation. That philosophy on scrummaging is to be respected, but we like scrummaging as well.”

Argentina’s mostcapped front row of Martin Scelzo, Mario Ledesma and Rodrigo Roncero, who have 177 appearances between them, has been broken by coach Santiago Phelan’s decision to start Montpellier prop Juan Figallo ahead of Scelzo. But the 23-year-old Figallo helped Montpellier reach its first French Top 14 final this year, leaving the pack no less formidable.

Rowntree said: “You test yourself as a player as a front row forward against the Argentineans and the French. And when you’ve got Argentineans playing in France with French clubs, that doubles the challenge.

“It’s a benchmark of scrummaging gurus: how do you do against a team like Argentina or France.”