Jonny Wilkinson
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| Date of Birth: | May 25, 1979 | |
| Place of Birth: | Frimley, Surrey | |
| Height: | 1.78m (5ft 10in) | |
| Weight: | 86kg (190lbs) | |
| Position: | Fly-half | |
| Country: | England | |
| Test Caps: | England 52, British & Irish Lions 5 | |
| Test Points: | England 817, British & Irish Lions 36 | |
| Club: | Newcastle Falcons | |
Jonathan Peter "Jonny" Wilkinson OBE (born 25 May 1979 in Frimley, Surrey) is an English rugby union player, who has captained the England rugby union team. He plays for his club rugby in the Guinness Premiership for Newcastle Falcons.
Contents |
Career
Early life
Jonny was educated at Pierrepont in Frensham and Lord Wandsworth College in Hampshire where he and Mark Williams shared the man of the match award in the under 10s final of the most popular cup for under 10s. Having started playing as a four-year-old at Farnham RFC, he was talent-scouted by his school rugby coach, the Falcons coach Steve Bates. Upon leaving school in the summer of 1997 he deferred his studies at Durham University for a year to try full-time rugby union. His first season was a sufficient success that his studies remain on-hold eight years later.
1998-2000
Though he is probably the world's most famous fly-half, he started his career as an inside centre competing for a place with international veterans such as Inga Tuigamala and British Lion Alan Tait. In a star-studded team which ultimately went on to lift the 1997/8 Premiership title, he became a firm fixture in the side.
Such was his amazingly rapid rise to prominence that by March of 1998 he was in the full England Test squad, being an unused replacement against Scotland before making his debut from the bench against Ireland at Twickenham on April 4 of that year aged 18.
England’s disastrous ‘Tour to Hell’ in 1998 saw them demolished in both Australia and New Zealand, but Wilkinson emerged stronger from the experience, returning to domestic duties and taking over from director of rugby, Rob Andrew, as both fly-half and goal kicker for the Falcons.
Now a firm fixture in the England team, he played for the Falcons in their 1999 Tetley’s Bitter Cup final defeat to London Wasps, before making his World Cup debut in 1999. Controversially dropped by Clive Woodward for the quarter final against South Africa, England were to fall in the last eight in his absence. He toured South Africa with England in 2000, kicking all of the points in their 27-22 win in Bloemfontein.
2001-2003
Early in his career he set an individual Six Nations points scoring record with his 35 points against Italy at Twickenham in 2001, to overtake the record of his Newcastle Falcons mentor, Rob Andrew. He scored all 15 points as England beat New Zealand 15-13 in Wellington 2003 and was a major factor in their 25-14 win over Australia a week later. By the end of 2003 he had scored 817 points (more than twice as many as any other England player) in 52 matches for his country.
While England honours continued to come, in 2001 Wilkinson helped the Falcons to the 2001 Tetley’s Bitter Cup at Twickenham, where a late try saw off Harlequins. Wilkinson was the first choice fly-half for the 2001 Lions tour to Australia where he equalled the Lions best individual total in a Test, with 18. He was blamed by many for throwing a long pass inside his 22 that was intercepted by Joe Roff which was seen as the turning point in the second test.
He has a reputation for an obsessive approach to training; in particular spending hours a day on goal-kicking practice even while at school. This has paid some dividends; in 2003 he kicked the winning drop goal in the last minute of extra time of the final of the Rugby World Cup against Australia, and soon after was voted the BBC Sports Personality of the Year. Incidentally, the last time Australia lost a match in the Rugby World Cup 8 years earlier, Wilkinson's mentor Andrew scored a drop goal at the stroke of full time to win the game for England. The Australian media did not take this loss very well, one newspaper bluntly stating "Good to see the back of you, Johnny" in front of a photo of Wilkinson's back as he left the pitch. Wilkinson was also named the 2003 IRB World Player of the Year. In the same year he became the youngest ever rugby union player to receive a New Year's Honour with an MBE, and received an OBE in 2004.
2004-present
His rate of scoring suggests that, barring further injuries, Wilkinson may one day break the current (2004) international world record points tally of 1,052 (held by Neil Jenkins). However, due to a series of injuries, he did not play a single international game between the 2003 World Cup final and the 2005 Lions tour to New Zealand.
Within a couple of weeks of winning the World Cup he was found to have had a broken facet in his shoulder and missed the 2004 Six Nations and the disastrous tour of New Zealand and Australia. Wilkinson was named Captain of the England team on 4 October 2004, replacing Lawrence Dallaglio who had resigned five weeks earlier. However, he was kept out of the 2004 autumn internationals by a haematoma in his upper right arm, the captaincy being taken over by Jason Robinson and then Martin Corry. In January 2005 he injured his medial knee ligament in a match against Perpignan. He missed the opening matches of the 2005 Six Nations Championship and on his return to Newcastle on 13 March 2005 he injured the same knee again.
In almost 18 months, he had played a total of only 938 minutes of competitive rugby union, but was nonetheless given a chance to prove his fitness for the 2005 Lions tour of New Zealand. He did so and was called up to the Lions on 8 May. Wilkinson made his first international appearance since the 2003 World Cup final on 23 May at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff as the Lions played Argentina. Wilkinson, along with the rest of the team, played poorly, but kicked a conversion and six penalties, salvaging a 25-25 draw with the last kick of the game.
He made his first full international appearance since the 2003 World Cup in the Lions' first Test against New Zealand, starting at inside centre instead of his normal fly-half position. Wilkinson scored the Lions' only points in their comprehensive 21-3 defeat. In the second Test, another heavy loss, he started in his normal role of number 10, but suffered a stinger injury. Wilkinson did not play in the third Lions Test.
Wilkinson had to forgo participation in the Falcons' August pre-season games in Japan due to appendicitis. Then, after having appeared in five successive matches for Newcastle, the injury litany continued in late November with surgery for a sportsman's hernia, which he himself associated with the strain of his two (or more) hour kicking-sessions. After over a two month absence, Jonny was named on the bench for the premiership game against London Irish on February 12, 2006, but did not get any game time. Wilkinson pulled out of training the following Tuesday and was reported to be suffering "an acute injury to his right adductor". Selected on the bench for the match against Guinness Premiership leaders Sale at Kingston Park on Sunday, April 16, he played all of the second half. Earlier in March he told Rugby World that he was confident his best rugby was still ahead of him.
Critics and pundits have been forced to ask whether Wilkinson will ever regain the form and confidence he possessed before his string of injury setbacks. Charlie Hodgson established himself as England's incumbent fly-half during the 2006 Six Nations Championship. If Wilkinson's fitness and health are stable over the next year, who will be the first choice fly half for the Rugby World Cup, when England defend the Webb-Ellis Cup, will be a fascinating topic to follow.
Further reading
- Jonny Wilkinson, My World, Headline Book Publishing, 2004. ISBN 0747242763.
External links
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