Jonny Wilkinson says he believes he owes England a big performance in Paris on Saturday.
England No 10 determined to do himself justice
Jonny Wilkinson says he believes he owes England a big performance in Paris on Saturday.
Wilkinson has scored more than 1,000 points in his 67 appearances for his country, but remains one of his own biggest critics.
England head coach Brian Ashton believes the French clash is "a big, big game" for certain unnamed individuals following stuttering displays against Wales and Italy.
And Wilkinson is adamant he is one of those players under the spotlight.
"I consider myself to be one of those players who needs a big game, and have done so for the last 67 games," he said.
"If I didn't feel that way, then the only saving grace would have been that I'd have slept better on Friday nights and maybe had not so much pain leading up to the games.
Justice
"No game is about trying to hold on to your shirt. It's about doing the shirt justice for those guys you are playing alongside.
"These games are not big because you are trying to hold on to your shirt, these games are big because you care hugely about the rest of the guys you are playing with and your input and contribution towards that goal.
"There is no real reward in running out in a white shirt unless you are going to go there and show who it is who's wearing it.
"Those shirts deserve to be on people who are doing it justice, and that's what you want to do."
Wilkinson has proved a nemesis for Les Bleus, kicking them out of the last two World Cup semi-finals and inspiring England's most recent Six Nations victory in Paris - a 15-9 success eight years ago.
He also arrives this weekend needing just 34 points to equal Welshman Neil Jenkins' world Test points record of 1090, and one drop-goal to set a new world best of 29, a record he currently shares with Hugo Porta.
Blank canvas
But Wilkinson added: "You realise that after playing this game professionally for 11 years, what's gone has definitely gone.
"You wake up on any match-day morning and it really is a blank canvas, and what you do on that day is the picture you paint on it.
"You can try and bring stuff with you from the past, but to be honest, it holds no real water.
"It's a new start every time, and I do think we are building towards something.
"We were all eventually in tune with each other at the World Cup. We've got to get there again, and I'm excited about the direction in which the game is heading and in which we're heading."
