Rugby: Jonny still the benchmark

Dan Carter. Photo / Mark Mitchell

After this morning's Six Nations match against France, it is entirely possible that Jonny Wilkinson will once again have his nose in front of Daniel Carter as the world's top points scorer in test rugby - and former Wallaby first five-eighths Stephen Larkham says Wilkinson was the more difficult opponent.

Larkham, a World Cup winner who won 102 caps for the Wallabies from 1996-2007, locked horns with both Carter, 28, and Wilkinson, 31, in their prime. But he gave Wilkinson the gong as the most troublesome opponent, conceding that Carter is more versatile.

"Jonny is outstanding defensively but he has a great kicking mind and ability whereas Dan Carter is more of an all-rounder, extremely skilful and also a very good goalkicker, so they are very evenly matched," Larkham, now the Brumbies backs coach, told the Herald On Sunday.

"Overall Dan is more attack-minded whereas Jonny is probably more defensively-minded. But, after playing against both of them, I would say Jonny was tougher to play against because you dared not give away any penalties inside your own half.

"It's something we in the Australian team talked about when we played England."

However, even Wilkinson's strongest supporters agree the 31-year-old Toulon star has struggled to live up to expectations following his extra-time drop goal heroics which famously snatched the World Cup from Australia's grasp on an epic Sydney night in 2003.

Larkham believes Wilkinson still has plenty of miles left on his clock.

"Jonny has had injury problems but compared with even 12 years ago, when he first started playing international rugby, the game has become even more professional in terms of guys preparing for games and recovering afterwards - so, at 31, Jonny could go on for a while yet," Larkham explained.

That could mean he will add to his test points tally of 1187 (Carter has one more point; 1188) - although Wilkinson was on the bench for England against France this morning with Toby Flood the starting No 10. That means Wilkinson's ongoing points haul could be restricted from now on - although the future of both men during and after this year's World Cup is unknown.

Australian utility back Matt Giteau, set to join Wilkinson at Toulon later this year on an 18-month sabbatical, insists there is nothing to separate Carter and Wilkinson's respective abilities.

"They are two completely different types of footballers but both are great players for their countries," Giteau said. "They deserve all of the accolades that come their way."

Since making his England debut as the second youngest player in his nation's rugby history in 1998, injury-plagued Wilkinson has amassed 1187 points in 88 test appearances compared to Carter's tally of 1188 points in 79 tests since 2003.

They are two of only four players to score more than 1000 points in tests (the others being Neil Jenkins of Wales, 1090, and Diego Dominguez of Argentina and Italy, 1010) although two current players - Stephen Jones of Wales (923) and Ronan O'Gara of Ireland (987) - could break that mark depending on their involvement in the Six Nations and World Cup this year.