England discarded their mono-dimensional game using Wilkinson and Toby Flood as receivers either side of the ruck to push the ball into their waiting backline.
But the execution and communication was out of sync.
The first time Wilkinson threw a cutout pass it whizzed past and beyond four of his colleagues over the touchline.
A restart was kicked out on the full. You had to rub your eyes to check this was Wilkinson playing in the white No 10 shirt.
This was the bloke whose practice routines are legendary, the man who works harder on his game now than he did when he first pulled on the England uniform.
No one doubts his bravery under the high ball or his courage in defence. The man has a larger ticker than Big Ben but age has eaten at his prowess, it has nibbled at his reactions, nipped at his technique.
He pulled in one great save from another Dimitri Yachvili kick but limped away from contact.
Then the shock when French left wing Vincent Clerc shimmied and scorched past Wilkinson's tackle.
It should have been a standard piece of defence. Clerc hit the speed button but Wilkinson had him lined up side-on and ate grass.
Down that flank France came again. They sniffed some fragility when they used a penalty advantage to swing the ball to Clerc once more. The England midfield got in a terrible defensive muddle, and when Clerc laid the ball off to Maxime Medard he beat Wilkinson's flailing tackle.
His 91st international was starting to look a little tatty.
But the five eighths has too much courage to concede. He is a fighter and a serious competitor unlike many of his teammates last night.
He darted into a gap to give Nick Easter a thumping gallop up field and then made a wonderful diving pickup and offload though he could not find Chris Ashton.
There were no shots at goal for Wilkinson until he converted Ben Foden's try, giving him some personal relief after a tournament in which he had only succeeded with 45 per cent of his attempts.
