All credit to David Strettle – the man did not so much as blink when the duck came out. I’m not sure I could have summoned the same dignity when confronted by a photographer clutching a yellow plastic bathroom toy, but Strettle? He’s a professional through and through. He simply takes the duck from the photographer’s hand, smiles, admits that, yes, he was once nicknamed “Ducks” by Andrew Mehrtens, the former New Zealand fly-half, and poses with it as if it’s quite the most natural thing in the world.

Why were you called “Ducks”? “The other players used to joke that I looked like David Duckham,” says Strettle with an innocent shrug of his shoulders. It’s not hard to see where the comparison comes from. With his lightning speed and blond good looks, Strettle is the new England rugby sensation – a player with the skills, the footwork and the sheer pace to make even the most hardened critic look up and take note. In rugby circles, he’s been well known for some time, and his ascent to the international game last year, coming within just a year of playing Premiership rugby, took few by surprise. But outside the sport, it’s his “surfer dude” looks (GQ’s words, not mine) that are capturing the headlines and securing the fan mail.

I’m meeting Strettle in his lovely minimalist apartment in south-west London in the week he has been recalled to the England squad, after missing the World Cup through injury. The place looks as if it’s been interior designed by a team of hip stylists, with its wall-mounted plasma screen and original floorboards.

“Nah,” he says in his soft Warrington accent. “I just haven’t got any furniture in here yet – that’s why it looks so bare. The TV’s only up there because there was a leak and I’m hiding the marks on the wall.”

The man himself looks like he’s stepped out of a cover shoot for Busted or some other boy band, with his mussed-up hair and casualwear. It’s not until he raises his hand, revealing his biceps, that you know you’re in the presence of real athleticism.

Strettle’s rise to international glory has the ring of a very modern fairytale about it. He was born in Lancashire into a rugby league family but chose union, largely because his school favoured it. He was considered small for the 15-aside game, being just 5ft 5in until he was 17, but says the experience of being the shortest in the team served him well. “I had to develop skills and be quick,” he says. “When you can’t rely on size, it focuses the mind a bit.”

After school, he spent a year playing for his local village side before going to Sheffield University to study sports science. He joined Rotherham rugby club, entering their academy, run by Geoff Wappett. Strettle thrived at the club, growing into a highly respected player, and enjoying what he describes as “the more social aspects of the sport – the down time”.

Then, unbeknownst to him, his life took a sharp turn when Harlequins, demoted to National League One for the season, began their preparations for a game against Rotherham. They studied video tapes of the Rotherham players and Strettle immediately stood out. John Kingston at Harlequins called Mike Schmidt at Rotherham to find out more about him.

After the game, Strettle recalls standing in the shower when Dean Richards came in and stood next to him. “He asked if I’d be interested in joining Quins if they went back up. I said I would, and when they were promoted I got the call. Suddenly it felt as if my rugby career was taking off.” The elation did not last long, though. In his first match for Quins, against Gloucester, he injured his medial ligaments. Six weeks later he came back and was immediately injured again. “I kept thinking – people will think I’m the sort of guy who’s always injured. It felt like it was all so unfair.” Happily, he managed an injury-free spell on his return and quickly became a favourite at the Stoop. He insists, though, that the rumours doing the rounds about him being a favourite at the bar too are not entirely true. He has a reputation for being the new Jason Leonard, and knocking back his body weight in lager. “I like a beer, and I do let my hair down after big games, but there’s a lot of pressure being a professional rugby player. Everything you do is so high profile, so public, that you feel you’re letting everyone down if you’re not on form, so I’m much more sensible these days.”

Last year, after a hard week’s training at Harlequins, Strettle headed back up north to see his family and friends. Just as he was approaching Warrington, his phone rang.

“Hi, it’s Viv,” said the caller. “Jason’s injured.”

I don’t know anyone called Viv or Jason thought Strettle, mentally running through the names of his friends.

“Can you come to training? It’s in Bath.” “That’s when it clicked,” says Strettle. “It was England calling. They needed cover for Jason Robinson.”

By the time Strettle arrived at the England team’s hotel, it was 11.30pm. “I walked in and there, ahead of me, were Jonny Wilkinson and Andy Farrell. They smiled when I walked in and said, ‘Hi Stretts, how you doing?’ This is just surreal, I thought. Completely surreal. They all know my name.”

The next day, just as he was about to get into the shower (an unusual number of Strettle’s defining rugby moments are linked to showers), his phone bleeped. It was a text from from Brian Ashton, congratulating him on being selected for England.

“You think you’re going to be madly excited at a time like that and scream for joy, but I actually found it quite a nervous moment. I felt all this pressure. I knew I’d have to play well and was stepping into Jason Robinson’s shoes, so it wouldn’t be easy. I felt very nervous rather than elated.”

He scored on his debut at Croke Park and received rave reviews. His international career was beginning. “I then started to make all these plans,” says Strettle. “I decided I was going to play in the World Cup before turning 25. That was my goal.”

To be fair, it wasn’t an unrealistic hope, but a broken metatarsal, just before the tournament last year, took him out of the whole thing. Today he has a “great big woodwork screw” in there, holding it together.

“Watching the World Cup unfold was bittersweet. I wanted to be there, and was annoyed that I wasn’t, but I couldn’t refuse to watch it because it was my mates out there playing, so I wanted to support them,” says Strettle. “You try to be sensible and think ‘injuries happen, there’s nothing you can do’, but it does hurt to be on the sidelines so soon after you’ve made your debut.”

So what are his goals now? “There’s one thing I’d like more than anything. I’d love to be one of those players who force the crowd to take a sharp intake of breath every time they get the ball. Like Jason Robinson or Martin Offiah. They are players who get the ball, and everyone expects. That’s a huge compliment,” says Strettle. “When people think you’re going to do something special just because you’ve got the ball in your hands. I’d love that.”

Strettle is back in the England squad, injury-free and raring to go for the Six Nations. “Brian Ashton is always saying, ‘don’t ever try to be anyone else, just be you, but be the best you possible’, and that’s what this year is all about for me – being the best me I can.”

Blondes have more fun...

Peter Winterbottom The farmer turned stockbroker made his England debut, aged 21, in 1982 and was a permanent fi xture in the back row over the next 11 years. A dashing openside fl anker, he was selected for two Lions tours to New Zealand and was part of the England team that won back-to-back Grand Slams in 1991 and 1992 and lost in the 1991 World Cup fi nal to Australia. He still works in the City as a money broker

David Duckham In an era of prosaic England performances, the wing’s fl air and swerve stood out. He won 36 caps for his country and played for the Lions team that won in New Zealand in 1971. Duckham was the only English back in the Barbarians team that beat the All Blacks two years later and his elusive running that day earned him the nickname ‘Dai’ from the Welsh, who claimed him as one of their own. David Strettle’s nickname is, appropriately, Ducks

Jonny Wilkinson Not a natural blond perhaps but website WomenRepublic rated him number 17 on its list of sexiest men, saying: ‘At one point, he had more female admirers than Mr Beckham. And with those adorable blond looks it really isn’t much of a surprise.’ Finally showed his appetite for fun by going on a bender with Prince Harry after the World Cup final