When Jonny Wilkinson walks out to lead the England national side for the first time tomorrow, you can be absolutely certain there will be a few billowing proud chests of appreciation around Hampshire.

For just six years ago, a young and highly talented Wilkinson, then a student at Lord Wandsworth College, just north of Basingstoke, adorned the dark blue Tudor Rose and Crown-crested shirt under the Hampshire Schools banner.

While being affiliated to his hometown club of Farnham, just over the county border in Surrey, Wilkinson captained the neighbouring county side and received all the plaudits from renowned coaches of that 1997 side.

One player, former England A, Richmond and Winchester fly-half Martin Livesey, said then "this lad is only 16 and he is teaching me things!"

Assistant coach of that side, former Gosport & Fareham captain Mark Wells, remembers well the quiet, unassuming, hard-working fly-half, who even at 17 was a class apart.

"He was totally committed," said Wells. "It was clear that he had an abundance of talent and it was our job to build a side that enabled him to play. With a record of played seven, won seven, we managed it."

In the four years he played for Hampshire Schools while attending Lord Wandsworth, it was his professional attitude that set him apart. But, while he was supremely talented, there were no airs or graces about him.

"He was generally very quiet and his leadership style was very much different to the way I would do it for instance," continued Wells. "He takes the quieter Sven Goran Eriksson type of approach, while I am more Sir Alex Ferguson.

"But he did not have to shout and ball and psyche himself up with lots of hollering and we even split the team into two in the changing rooms to allow him and those like him to prepare in their own way, while Marcus Coffin for instance, preferred the other approach.

"You will probably see that kind of approach when he leads out England."

Coffin, the Southampton prop forward, played for five seasons with Wilkinson in the schools set-up and certainly remembers those times very well - although he admits that the world renowned number 10 is unlikely to remember him!

"He was a different class," he said. "But in all honesty, he was like he is now. He reads the game so well and was not afraid to put in some monster hits, even at that age when he was not as big as he is now.

"However, the one thing about him, which you might have expected given he was from a private school and I was from Cantell in Bassett was that he was never big headed about it, and was a good team lad."

Romsey captain Ben Hewitt was also a part of that hugely successful county squad and mirrored the comments of his then front-row propping partner.

"As a prop, to see him kick the ball from our 22 into theirs with either foot was a big relief," Hewitt added. "But he did it without being flashy. He just did everything right and approached everything with precision.

"It was a joy to play with him. He regularly mucked in and was one of the lads. Now to see him regularly performing for England or the Lions, for instance, I look back and realise that I have played with the best player in the world."

Wells, who received a shirt signed by Wilkinson on his retirement from coaching at Dolphin Crescent last season, admits Hampshire can benefit from the fact he is captaining his country tomorrow.

"Jonny has never been a fully fledged county player for Hampshire, but we will utilise the fact that he did play for our schools set-up. And that is a message he can send out to all the youngsters.

"He has got where he is through nothing but hard work. This is not a gift that has been given to him at birth; he has had to put the hours in. He is incredibly talented, but that is because he has put the effort in."