Toby Flood remembers the first time he met the England team manager. It was four years ago in a benefit match for Soa Otuvaka, the Tongan flanker who died of a brain tumour, and a young Newcastle Falcons back was keen to make an impact on the man who had lifted the World Cup.

“I jumped on Johnno’s back, but I don’t think he even noticed,” Flood, 23, said. “I was just some little kid.”

The kid has grown up and Martin Johnson is more than aware of him now. So much so that Flood is a strong candidate to be named at fly half in Johnson’s first England XV, who play the Pacific Islands on November 8.

If it happens — and Flood, like most players, says he is happy to play in any position (“even at prop if it gets me an England shirt”) — it will be only the fourth time in 18 caps that he will have started in the pivotal position, the one in which he has excelled this season with Leicester. He can make his case again away to Cardiff Blues in the EDF Energy Cup tomorrow.

It used to be Jonny Wilkinson’s shirt, but the latest injury to his former Newcastle team-mate, and Danny Cipriani’s only recent return from ankle injury, mean that this could be Flood’s time. If he plays as well as he did on his first start at fly half, against France in 2007, when he scored a try and kicked 11 points in England’s 26-18 win, Johnson will be happy.

Flood, in turn, is delighted with the way that Johnson’s new England works. The 32-man elite squad, introduced in July and criticised by some for largely ignoring form this season, appeals to Flood because it gives him the confidence of knowing he is wanted, which he did not have before.

“The thing I like about it is you know you are there, so you don’t have to worry all the time,” he said. “And communication is much better. We’ve only met as a squad once but I have spoken to Johnno a few times and lots more to Brian Smith and Mike Ford.

“It makes us more happy and means you can get on with doing what you do. Before, you never knew until near the game if you’d be involved. Now you have constant communication.”

Flood lies somewhere between the introspective, obsessive Wilkinson and the flamboyant, creative Cipriani. “Jonny was a huge influence on me,” Flood said. “I first met him when he did some coaching sessions at my school when I was in the lower sixth. I wouldn’t say it was an epiphany, though. At that age I didn’t think I’d be good enough to be a rugby player.”

He took the path he did only when John Fletcher, the former head of the Newcastle academy and director of rugby at the club until March, persuaded him. Flood denies that Fletcher’s departure was the reason why he left the club, but the move to Leicester has certainly invigorated him. Many feel that Wilkinson should do the same, but Flood praises his friend’s steadfastness. “No one would begrudge Jonny for being loyal,” he said. “But for me, trying something new felt right.”

As for Cipriani’s celebrity lifestyle, Flood said: “Danny’s a nice guy and he lives his life in the manner he wants but I’m not interested in that sort of stuff. And here at Leicester you have to watch what you do or one of the older boys will take your head off.” As, indeed, Josh Lewsey did to Cipriani.

Flood should be a natural showman. Both his grandfathers were actors — Gerald Flood was in Doctor Who, Albert Lieven in The Guns of Navarone — and his parents work in the theatre. A fear of having to sing at school stopped him from following their path, but he realises that there are links between acting and sport.

“They have certain similarities, particularly in the way you deal with being in the limelight,” he said. “But of course we don’t have a script to follow and anything can go wrong.”

Starters for 10: heirs to Jonny Wilkinson

Toby Flood
Age 23
Height 6ft 2in
Weight 14st 7lb
England caps 18
First capped November 11, 2006
Points for England 37

Danny Cipriani
Age 20
Height 6ft
Weight 14st 2lb
England caps 3
First capped February 2, 2008
Points for England 18

EDF Energy is supporting rugby from the grassroots EDF Energy National Schools Rugby Programme to the elite EDF Energy Cup. More information at edfenergyrugby.com