Jonny Wilkinson joined up with the England squad to provide a drop-goal masterclass – so that Eddie Jones' class of 2019 are ready to win the Rugby World Cup in the same way as the 2003 team, if necessary.

The iconic former Red Rose fly-half is in Tokyo in his role as a television pundit, but he spent time going through kicking drills with Owen Farrell, as the England captain and his team-mates had their last training session prior to the showdown with South Africa in Yokohama on Saturday.

Wilkinson has regularly provided mentoring support to England's kickers in an informal, ad hoc capacity and this was a timely continuation of that arrangement.

Sixteen years ago, Sir Clive Woodward's team were forced to endure the tension of extra-time in their World Cup final against Australia in Sydney.

When a late opportunity presented itself, Wilkinson was able to retain his composure under extreme pressure and land a drop goal with a weaker right foot which won the Webb Ellis Cup and went straight into rugby folklore.

Now, the 40-year-old is on hand to provide the benefits of his experience and expertise to Farrell, George Ford and Leicester scrum-half Ben Youngs – who was also involved in the kicking practice on Friday morning, at England's training base to the west of Tokyo.

They worked together at one end of a pitch while Jones was busy holding a coaching session for local school children nearby.

Finals are often notoriously cagey affairs and many of them have come down to fine margins. England are therefore taking the necessary steps to ensure they are suitably prepared for a close encounter – knowing that South Africa have their own accomplished kicker in fly-half Handre Pollard.

Farrell has been cleared to lead his team into Friday's momentous game, but he has been hampered this week by a dead leg sustained in the win over New Zealand last Saturday.

For some of the time he was going through his kicking drills, the skipper was wearing strapping around his right thigh, but it had been removed by the time he left the training ground. Evidently, there are on-going efforts to ensure he is moving as freely as possible by the time of the final. 

As he considered the magnitude of the occasion, the Saracens playmaker emphasised the need to embrace it and not approach it in tentatively.

'Everybody wants to be involved in this game,' he said. 'Now this opportunity has come around, you want to enjoy it, you want to go for it, you don't want to dip your toe in and see what happens. You want to throw all of yourself into it and that's the way that we'll look to go about it. We'll prepare in a way that allows us to throw ourselves into it and be free.'

Asked to gauge the mood in the Red Rose camp, Farrell added: 'We're good. We're calm. We've put some good work in during the week, tactically and physically. We give off to each other the confidence and the belief we need for the weekend. We're in a good place.'  

Jones was full of praise for Farrell's leadership during the tournament and outlined his view of his players' mindset as they prepare for the game of their lives. 

He said: 'I feel the squad know how hard they're going to have to work to win the game. They know South Africa aren't going to give us the game. We've been nicely building over four years and this is our opportunity on Saturday to put it all together. One last chance.'

Meanwhile, Tom Curry, England's youngest player at just 21, is on the five-man shortlist for World Rugby Player of the Year award. The Sale flanker is the only English nominee.

The others are Wales captain Alun Wyn Jones, New Zealand flanker Ardie Savea, Springbok pair Cheslin Kolbe and Pieter-Steph du Toit and USA hooker Joe Taufete'e.