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England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson said he had overcome his latest injury setback and was raring to start playing for French Top 14 club Toulon.

Wilkinson (pictured) ended a 12-year spell with Guinness Premiership side Newcastle, the only club he has played for as a professional, when he signed to play for Toulon next season in a deal worth up to one million euros.

Since kicking the drop-goal that won England the 2003 World Cup final against Australia in Sydney, Wilkinson's career has been blighted by a succession of injuries.

But the outside-half, speaking in French, said that despite just turning 30 years of age, he felt a decade younger.

"It's been seven months since I played rugby but I've been able to train and take some time out. My body is in good knick, the knee is perfect: I now just need to refind the rhythm of competition," he said at his official unveiling in Toulon.

"I'm going through medical tests, and they're going well. I feel fresh. I'm not stupid: I know the physical demands of the highest level. I feel better than ever."

Wilkinson - international rugby's leading points scorer with 1,032 in 70 Tests and 67 in six games for the British and Irish Lions - has not played since dislocating his kneecap playing for Newcastle in September.

He justified his signing with Toulon - for one year with an option on two further years - as a bid late in his career to understand "French flair".

"I'd like to succeed in understanding a little of this 'French flair', how in the space of a few seconds a team can turn around and score one or two tries," he added.

Wilkinson's arrival at Toulon comes as part of an aggressive recruitment policy by club president Mourad Boudjellal, who will boast a budget of around 16.5 million euros next season.

"I don't think Jonny appreciates how excited people are with him coming here," Toulon team manager Tom Whitford said in The Times.

"He is an icon. The town is so unbelievably passionate about rugby and for him to be here is a real coup for us and the region."

Wilkinson said he welcomed the springboard Toulon offered him.

"You wake up and the choice to reinvent yourself is there, to take new decisions, leave the past behind and open up a new future and that's what this is," he said in his Times column.

"I have been trying for a long time to leave things behind me, injuries, a few elements of the (2003) World Cup that were placed on me at a young age and you perhaps want to break free from.

"Coming here is a good illustration of being able to wake up one day and follow a new direction. It is something I can't wait to be involved in."

As a spin-off, Boudjellal said that he hoped to sell hundreds of thousands of imitation jerseys next season against 60-65,000 this season.

He added that he and Jacky Lorenzetti, president of the newly-promoted Metro Racing club, had asked the Top 14 to relax rules banning the sale of shirts bearing players' names.

AFP