After months of speculation linking him with a move to a number of the country's leading sides, Jonny Wilkinson this week signed a new two-year contract at Kingston Park. England's World Cup winner tells Chief Sports Writer Scott Wilson why he refused to fly the Falcons' nest

FOUR-and-a-half-years ago, as he was kicking the winning drop-goal in the World Cup final, Jonny Wilkinson was widely regarded as the best rugby union player in the world. This week, as Wilkinson was signing a new two-year deal at Kingston Park, Newcastle Falcons director of rugby John Fletcher was telling anyone who would listen that his club's leading flyhalf was even better than that.

"Jonny is ten times better than he was when England won the World Cup," said Fletcher, a dyed-in-the-wool Northumbrian not usually prone to bouts of hyperbole. "He's miles better.

"He's stronger, he's fitter, he's quicker and his passing is better. People get better. People win Olympic gold medals and heavyweight boxing championships in their thirties.

"Is Jonny at his best? No, he's not. Science tells you players are not at their best until their early thirties, so he's still got a lot of improvement in him."

In that case then, the rest of the Guinness Premiership had better be on their guard. A week that began with Kevin Keegan's return to St James' Park as Newcastle's footballing messiah ended with Wilkinson reaffirming his status as the saviour of the city's rugby club.

If the 28-year-old is to improve in the course of the next 24 months, he will do so in a Newcastle Falcons shirt.

With the pick of England's Premiership clubs to choose from, and some of France's biggest names also courting his signature, Wilkinson opted to extend a relationship with the Falcons that began when he turned professional in 1997.

Some might call it a lack of ambition. Newcastle are not involved in this season's Heineken Cup and have not claimed the Premiership title since 1998.

Some might call it a fear of tackling the unknown.

Wilkinson has never played for anyone other than the Falcons, and is all but untouchable at Kingston Park.

Others, though, might describe it as loyalty and respect, concepts that were supposed to disappear with the advent of a professional age, but which continue to exert a considerable influence in the rugby world.

"In the end it was simple,"

said Wilkinson. "I had to follow my heart. Some great opportunities have been made available to me. There are some fantastic clubs doing fantastic things in this country, and the interest from them was great.

But the North-East is a great place to be.

"I guess the decision I've made shows my respect for Newcastle in terms of the way they've supported me and the way I've supported them back.

"I hope it's a really positive collaboration that is helping us both. Sometimes, it's about doing the work in your brain and the quantifiable stuff, but sometimes it's also about going with your gut feeling.

"Being in and around the guys, playing games, and watching games pan out. It just feels right to be here. My career here so far has been time well spent, and I'm sure the next two years will be exactly the same."

It is difficult to imagine a sportsman more driven than Wilkinson, a player who practised his kicking to such a manic extent that it actually began to tear the muscles and ligaments in his leg.

But while his commitment and intensity remain unquestionable, when push came to shove earlier this month, he found it impossible to tear himself away from the club and region that has done so much to develop his game.

Wilkinson's ferocious will to win burns as brightly as ever, and he remains desperate to help Newcastle regain their position among the Heineken Cup elite.

He has also developed a newfound commitment to contentment, though, an approach that cannot be measured in trophies and achievements, but one that looks set to become the guiding light of his rugby career.

"I've been mistakenly judging my career on an idea that, one day, I'll get huge fulfilment out of bringing people into my memorabilia room and giving them a tour of the cups that I've won," explained Wilkinson. "It's unbelievably false.

"Rugby is huge, but it's the occasion that's huge. It's about being somewhere competing, and having the life experience of digging in with a group of guys who all have the same worthy goal.

"I need to do that enjoyment bit and what makes me enjoy things even better is when I feel that I'm contributing.

"Winning things is important, and it does feel good, don't get me wrong. I'll always be able to say I won a World Cup, but it hasn't really given me any greater happiness than being in that 2007 final we lost.

"It's about living for the moment. It's about enjoying my time here at Newcastle, and wanting other people to enjoy my time here as well."

And if that means refusing to follow convention, so be it. The populist view, as espoused by Lawrence Dallaglio in his autobiography, is that Wilkinson's club career will always be a case of what might have been.' But what Wilkinson might lose in terms of trinkets, he will gain in terms of the pleasure and enjoyment he has purposefully shunned in the past.

"Lawrence said what he said,"

said Wilkinson. "But what I would maybe say in return is that if he had been at Newcastle for the same length of time that I have, if he had experienced what I have experienced here, then maybe he would see it more from my point of view.

"This is a club moving forward. The attitude, the collective desire and the quality of the squad means it's a place that can only move one way. I'm trying to add to that growth and development by putting my two pennies in and seeing where we can go as a team."

That might be the top of the Premiership, or it might be closer to the other end of the table. Either way Wilkinson fully intends to enjoy the ride.

* In tomorrow's The Northern Echo, Jonny Wilkinson talks about his battle with Danny Cipriani for the England number ten shirt.