Some of the biggest names in rugby will miss the kick off of this season's Six Nations rugby championship.
Martin Johnson, Fabien Galthie, Rafael Ibanez, Keith Wood ... Jonny Wilkinson.
While Johnson, Galthie, Ibanez and Wood are among stars who retired from international rugby after the World Cup, the man who kicked the match-winning drop goal that clinched England's historic triumph is almost certain to be watching instead of playing when his teammates face Italy in Rome.
Wilkinson has managed less than an hour of rugby since that dramatic extra time kick against Australia in Sydney captured a 20-17 victory.
He is struggling with an injury that affects the nerves in his neck and shoulder and shows little sign of improving. Coach Clive Woodward says he's 99.9 percent certain to miss the game.
While that gives a chance for Paul Grayson, Alex King or Olly Barkley a rare chance to shine, his absence takes some of the spark out of the championship for at least the first two rounds.
Wilkinson is the world's best player, not only for his ability to kick goals from almost anywhere on the field, but for his imaginative attacking play and ferocious tackling.
No one is good enough to make up for all those missing qualities, but Woodward said England has impressive backup.
"We're pretty spoilt for choice at fly half at the moment," Woodward said. "It's not about chucking someone in to give them experience. We want to win the tournament and to do that we have to win the first game against Italy. It's as simple as that."
Lawrence Dallaglio is back as England captain in place of Johnson, who plays for Leicester, and the rest of Woodward's lineup against the Italians in Rome should closely resemble the team that triumphed in Australia.
The bookmakers rate England a hot favorite to improve its record of Six Nations titles to 26 and also complete a 13th Grand Slam, also unmatched by any of its rivals.
french threat
Despite the retirement of Galthie and Ibanez, France is considered its only real rival and the two European rugby giants will meet in Paris on March 27 in the final match of the championship in what should be a Grand Slam decider.
The French host Ireland in their opening game with the Irish hoping to make up for a dismal World Cup quarterfinal performance in Melbourne where France cruised to a 43-21 victory.
France has held on to 16 of the World Cup squad that finished in fourth place in Australia, including its standout back row of Olivier Magne, Serge Betsen and Imanol Harinordoquy.
But coach Bernard Laporte has called up new faces such as forwards William Servat of Stade Toulousain and Pascal Pape of Bourgoin,
"Our objective is to reconcile the present and the future," team manager Jo Maso said. "We want to win the Six Nations. That's why we built this group with men who appeared to be us to be most in-form."
Irish front row star Keith Wood has finally retired from all levels of rugby and Shane Byrne, who has waited eight years for him to step aside, finally gets his chance.
"I feel like I'm only starting," the Leinster hooker said. "I waited a long time to get this chance and now it's fantastic. I'm really enjoying it.
"I can really say that, even with the seven- or eight-year wait, I wouldn't change a thing."
The way the championship looks like shaping up, England and France should dispute the titles, Ireland should comfortably hold on to third place and Wales, Scotland and Italy will try to avoid finishing last.
Wales hosts Scotland at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium and should be favorite to start with a victory, based on some impressive World Cup performances and a strong showing by Welsh clubs in European competition.
Steve Hansen's team led England 10-3 at halftime of its World Cup quarterfinal in Brisbane only to lose 28-17. It had the All Blacks in trouble at 34-28 in a group game before losing 53-37 in Sydney.
"I do not think we were too far away from winning either against New Zealand or against England," said Hansen, who has opted to keep back row Colin Charvis as captain even though he now plays French division two rugby with Tarbes.
good strategy
"We have to be more accurate in our play, not give away so many penalties and get over the line more.
"But I am confident that, if we work hard and keep our feet on the ground, we will achieve good results."
Speedy and elusive winger Shane Williams was one of the eye-catching newcomers of the World Cup and New Zealand center Sonny Parker, Mark Taylor and former rugby league star Iestyn Harris are available in an impressive back line.
The Scots have had a clear-out on and off the field with Matt Williams taking over from veteran Ian McGeechan as coach and stars such as Gregor Townsend, Bryan Redpath and Kenny Logan no longer around.
While hoping to start with a victory over the Welsh, Williams has told his young newcomers not to lose heart if they suffer heavy defeats to the English and the French.
"They will fail and we have to allow that to happen, we can't discard them, we have to re-educate them and bring them forward," Williams said.
"We're not like [soccer club] Chelsea where we just buy players in, we've got to make what we've got better.
"If we were talking about England or the All Blacks, you wouldn't suggest there was an 18-month period of rebuilding there. They are a long way into a five-year process where they have very solid structures."
Although Italy came away from the World Cup with two victories -- over Canada and Tonga -- John Kirwan's team starts the Six Nations against England and France and is playing down talk of beating the powerhouse teams.
All he wants is to win a Six Nations match away from the Stadio Flaminio.
"I want to see an improvement this season," said New Zealand-born coach Kirwan, whose team has beaten Scotland and Wales at home since joining the championship in 2000. ``We need to win at least one game, and we also need to start winning away.
"We were disappointed with our World Cup campaign. Our intention was to make the top eight in that tournament, and we were all disappointed that we didn't."
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