Jonny should be insurance

There was a telling moment at the conclusion of the Heineken Cup semifinal between Saracens and Toulon on Sunday.

Toulon flyhalf Jonny Wilkinson, who had scored all of his team's points in its 24-12 win, sought out his opposite number, Owen Farrell, to offer a few words of comfort.

The 2003 World Cup winner might well have been giving the future of England rugby a bit of encouragement, what with the British & Irish Lions squad being announced on Tuesday.

Throughout his chat with Farrell, his Toulon team-mates kept coming up to mob him in a show of gratitude for yet another match-winning performance at the ripe old age of 33 (he turns 34 later this month).

There were two contrasting things to read from the video footage: the former England flyhalf appeared to be passing on the baton but his team-mates still believe that he is "the man".

A day later, he turned down Warren Gatland's request that he tour Australia with the Lions in June, one of the few wrong options the flyhalf has taken in his career.

Wilkinson's reasons were that, because of his commitments to Toulon, he wouldn't be able to leave at the same time as the rest of the squad, and that he was not 100% sure if his infamously brittle body could take the rigours of a seven-week tour.

As decisions go, it is classically Wilkinson because it was based on what would be best for the team, not for himself.

Few professional sportsmen have been more concerned about the team.

At his peak, the big talking point about Wilkinson was how punishing his training schedule was - be it physically or just his kicking.

Though the obsessive box-ticking looked like looking after No1 to most (remember the infamous training sessions on Christmas Day?), it actually came from being terrified of letting the side down.

The decision not to join the Lions was made simply because he felt he hadn't prepared in a way that would answer for every eventuality on what will be a tough tour.

So it was again about not letting the side down, but here I have to beg to differ.

Sunday's game was about the master and the apprentice and their reactions under pressure.

Wilkinson knew what to do because he'd been there and done it, whereas Farrell bottled it somewhat because he is still finding his feet in international rugby.

Too often we get seduced by youth and form when selecting teams, hence the clamour for Farrell and Ireland's Jonathan Sexton to lead the Lions.

But sometimes things aren't that simple. Farrell and Sexton are not the undisputed first-choice flyhalves for their countries, whereas Wilkinson was in his heyday.

A great example of this is Morne Steyn against our young pups Pat Lambie, Johan Goosen and Elton Jantjies.

After an atrocious season last year, Steyn is back to his best but the youngsters are hardly yapping at his heels, as we predicted.

Besides, if you look at recent Lions tours they weren't exactly decided by which team looked the better in the series.

Back in 1997, the Springboks had the bigger names in their team and scored more tries, yet a Ginger Ninja called Neil Jenkins put paid to them with his goal-kicking.

The Lions looked the better team in 2009, but the Boks won.

Not convincing Wilkinson to tour with them looks like the right decision. But it's a missed opportunity to take some insurance Down Under.

And few players bring more insurance to a team than Jonny Wilkinson.