Wilkinson, the totemic figure of English rugby, had an off-day in the narrow win over Italy missing three of his six kicks while he was again criticised for receiving the ball too deep to launch the visitors’ attacking game.

Brive centre Flutey made his long-awaited first start with Wilkinson against the Azzurri after missing the Wales game with a dead leg and the autumn series with a shoulder injury sustained on Lions duty.

And despite failing to get the Red Rose back division firing on his comeback, the 30-year-old insists he’s ready to take the spotlight off Wilkinson – starting with Saturday’s showdown with Ireland.

"Against Italy I would have liked my involvement in the game to be a lot more,” said Flutey.

“The couple of times when I did get the ball I broke the gain line and did all right and defensively I was reasonably solid.

“The more I am involved the happier I am so I’m ready to stand up and take the lead.

“We know we have a lot to improve on but we are excited about winning two out of two so far.

"We are excited that we haven't actually really showed too much of our hand in terms of attacking play.

“I sat in front of the TV for the first game when I was injured and I wrote down all our plays and I was then going to go through and tick them off as the boys were doing them.

“But set piece wise we didn't get through hardly any of them and it was pretty much the same thing in the Italy game so we still have so much more to show.

"We are all excited about having another massive challenge against Ireland. They are coming off the back of a loss and they will all be fired up so we need to be confident going into the next game."

England’s centre partnership has been based on a revolving door policy since Martin Johnson took the helm in 2008 – with a fit Flutey one of the few permanent fixtures.

But after seeing Mathew Tait muscle his way into the No.13 shirt, Flutey is desperate to strike up a long-term alliance in the midfield.

“I am excited about building a partnership with Tait,” added Flutey. “He is a fantastic talent and I said that when I first came into the squad last year.

"Watching him train and watching the little details he puts into his training and games is world class."

"So to have an opportunity to partner up with him in the centre is great and so far its been good."

“It is good to get a strong partnership, I experienced being with Gordon Darcy and Brian O'Driscoll on the Lions tour and they are both great guys and I learnt a hell of a lot off both of them."