New England head coach Eddie Jones has revealed that he is looking to get Jonny Wilkinson involved in his coaching set-up.
The 36-year-old is England's record points scorer and has been coaching at former club Toulon on a part-time basis since hanging up his boots in 2014.
Jones revealed that he bumped into Wilkinson at a supermarket and is now in talks to bring the World Cup winner on board.
"We would like to get Jonny involved, but he's quite a private person. We are having chats about it. I saw him down at Waitrose shopping with a beanie over his head. I had coffee with him. After we had coffee he went and did a kicking session and he doesn't play anymore. Why was he one of the best in the world? Because he did that. That's the difference," Jones told reporters.
"No-one tells him to do that because he is retired, but he still wants to be a good kicker does Jonny Wilkinson. How many of these players do that now? That is the key going forward. Our job as coaches is to create that environment where players are encouraged to do that - we can't tell them to do it. Anywhere in the world the good players tend to rise up and there should be a gap between the really good players and the average players.
"A good player has that little bit extra, and we are talking about two or three per cent extra. He does that little bit of extra analysis, stretches, goes for a swim and takes a bag of balls to kick. I want that attitude and I want to see how desperate they are to become a better player."
Jones was the Australia head coach when Wilkinson kicked England to World Cup glory over the Wallabies in 2003.
Barney Corkhill
