JONNY Wilkinson is the finest sporting talent of his generation. They said that about George Best. But that's where the likeness begins and ends. ''People say I wasted my money. I say 90 per cent went on women, fast cars and booze. The rest I wasted,'' Best famously quipped. Unlike him, Wilkinson is not letting his talent arc up a wall in a pub car park. At just 24, he's already realised his potential through being a model professional.

Since scoring that drop goal, Jonny's unwittingly joined the likes of Robbie, Brad and Elton in that most exclusive of gentlemen's clubs: the one-name celebrities, the A-stars above the A-list. But he's not going to lose his head over it - or his liver.

''I've always said that rugby is my primary focus,'' says Wilkinson. ''I'm aware of all the attention, but if I let that even begin to enter my mind, I know that my game will suffer.''

In single-footedly winning England the World Cup, Wilkinson has altered the nation's mindset. No longer are we the gallant, after-you-sir losers of world sport. For the first time in a generation, we have a winning template. It's enough to make you choke.

''It was certainly a long time since we'd won a world cup,'' says England's number ten, thumbing through his Bumper Book of Sporting History.

''I wish the football lads well for Euro 2004 because I know what success would mean to the guys I've met who play.''

Wilkinson also knows what it takes to get that success. As Roy Castle used to sing, dedication is what you need. Sgt Wilko is never off-duty: ''The parade, the Queen and the MBE... I was honoured to be part of it all and it has been fantastic, but I'm not prepared to sacrifice my training.''

With Wilkinson, practice has made perfect. It's all he's done since the age of three. ''I remember hearing him say that all the practice he puts in was so that if he had a kick in the World Cup final then he wanted to be in a position where he wouldn't worry about it,'' his mother Philippa told The Observer.

Which is more than can be said for her. Mum couldn't bear to watch the final, so she went to Tesco to take her mind off it. For her little Jonny, though, there is no hiding among the shelves of Pedigree Chum when the pressure is on.

''When I'm preparing for a big kick, I have to fall back on my routine,'' says the human metronome. You know the one: knees bent, bum out, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah!

''I focus on the routine rather than what the state of the match is so I can block out the negative thoughts. If I do that, then I feel I know exactly where the ball's going: in my mind, the ball is over and through the posts.''

Wilkinson doesn't just play for kicks, of course. As a tackler he's fearless verging on reckless. Phil Larder, England's no-nonsense defence coach, rates Wilkinson as one of the top three tacklers in the squad. ''I've never known a player in his position to tackle so hard or so keenly,'' says Larder. Not bad for a comparatively diminutive 5ft 10in and 13st 10lb.

''I don't think fear comes into it at this level. I just make the tackles when I need to,'' explains Wilkinson.

As the best kicker in the world, he knows he is going to be targeted for the rough stuff. ''You've got to stand your ground,'' he says. ''The confidence comes from technique. When you know you're solid, there's more of a desire to try it out, to hit someone harder than normal and get the job done. I like to get stuck in and it's good to get a big hit in.''

Underneath that almost impenetrable exterior, however, the rubber Jonny has shown signs of reaching his elastic limit of late. First there was the news that he might have played the World Cup final with a stress fracture in his neck. Then there was the car crash on the return journey to Newcastle between the two Palace visits, all within three days. The huge publicity the accident received embarrassed him. He walks away from a dozen bigger crashes every time he plays rugby.

BUT since coming back from the World Cup, everything he does is headline news and everyone wants a piece of him. He couldn't exactly turn down Nunber Ten, and he had to bow to the Queen's demands, but this exclusive Men's Health interview aside, Wilkinson has kicked pretty much every other offer into touch.

After winning England the Webb Ellis trophy, he refused to be photographed alone with it. ''The team is the most important thing, no matter what the papers are saying about an individual player,'' he says.

The man's modesty is now almost as famous as his goal-kicking majesty. He suffers from ADD: attention deflection disorder. Look up reticence in the picture dictionary and there's a blank space where his mugshot would have been if he hadn't turned down the photo shoot.

In a staggering demonstration of his unbreakable resolve, Hello! were waved goodbye and OK! were told that no amount of money - not even the jaw-dropping £1m offered - would buy them access to the world's most standoffish stand-off.

''That sort of thing isn't Jonny; it isn't what he's about,'' his representative Tim Buttimore told the Financial Times. The irony is, of course, that in making himself so exclusive he increases the bounty on his own head, thus fuelling the frenzy.

He clearly doesn't need the dough. Even before the World Cup, he was on £250K a year from the Newcastle Falcons, with sponsorships from the likes of adidas and Hackett.

But of the relatively few contracts he has entered into, by far the most important and longest-term agreement is with himself. He has made a monastic ''personal pact'' that for the next ten years he'll sacrifice everything to rugby. ''It's just a way of keeping myself focused on the challenges ahead,'' he says, almost robotically. Anything else Does Not Compute.

It's a lucrative contract that's helped make him the perfect 10. He's already come of age several times. An England international at 18, a British Lion at 21, a World Cup winner and the International Rugby Board player of the year at 24. Is there anything left to achieve?

''My ambition is to carry on playing at the highest level for as long as I can still perform to the best of my ability,'' says Wilkinson. ''I don't think I'll ever have a problem being motivated - there are always challenges ahead.''

Although for some the Jonny-be-good image induces the retch reflex, he doesn't care. ''If people think I'm whiter-than-white, that's fine,'' he says. ''The image I'd like is as a professional rugby player committed to playing his sport at the highest level to the best of his abilities. I can't stop now, I have to keep going. I want to get the best out of what I've got - to be the best I could possibly be.''

The best, not George Best.

*The full interview with Jonny Wilkinson can be read in the March issue of Men's Health, in shops Friday, February 6