Martin Johnson’s side face the Pacific Islands, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand in November and Wilkinson wants to make his mark.

Wilkinson became Test rugby's record points scorer during this year's RBS 6 Nations but was also dropped for the first time in his career.

Rising star Danny Cipriani was preferred at fly-half and although the World Cup winner stepped off the bench to win his 70th cap against Ireland, he had clearly slipped below his rival in the pecking order.

Wilkinson also missed the summer tour of New Zealand as he underwent the surgeon's knife to correct his troublesome shoulder which has allowed him to start the new season in a positive frame of mind.

"My shoulder is really good. I don't know when it started feeling bad - I think I was getting some pain pre-World Cup in the 6 Nations 2003," he said.

"My neck took control after that and I've not really played since. So once I strung some games together there was obviously a problem.

"The shoulder problem has been there five years. It was quite a long way gone so it was a great idea to get it done.

"When I was playing in some games I felt like I had no problem but in others I was waking up really struggling.

"It was tough to keep going so when there was an opportunity to get it done in the summer I took it.

"It had degenerated quite a lot so it needed quite a bit of sorting out. I was told I'd be out for four months and at the moment I'm on schedule."