Jonny Wilkinson turned 35 last week and he celebrated it in style: a second consecutive Heineken Cup victory, before leading Toulon to the French title. Given his history, he was always likely to go out with two perfect wins.
Jonny’s route to rugby’s Hall of Fame (I’m not even sure if one exists, but if it did, he would be in it) started at Newcastle Falcons. Playing initially as an inside centre (12) outside the then England fly half Rob Andrew, it was obvious he was going to be a top play. It didn’t take him long to take the 10 shirt off Andrew for both the Falcons and England and he’s been wearing it every game since then.
His roll of honour shows he’s won the league title, Tetley Bitter Cup, World Cup, two Heineken Cups, two British Lions tours, England captain and record points scorer in almost every competition he ever played in.
He became one of the world’s best players and probably the most respected by playing the game the right way, famously training ridiculously hard and heaping most of the praise for victories on his team mates. And in a world where sports stars are known just as much for their antics off the field as on it (dwarf throwing, champagne spraying, cigar stubbing, you know the sort) Jonny’s career has been largely incident free. Mainly because he’s a top bloke.
World’s Best Ball Boy
Before Jonny’s brother Mark (‘Sparks’ to almost everyone) made it on to the Newcastle Falcons squad, he would keep himself fit by turning out for Newcastle Knights. Not the NRL Knights, but a team of the same name in the North East of England. The English Knights weren’t quite the same standard as the Australian outfit.
The bad news for me was that if Sparks was playing, he took over kicking duties. He wasn’t quite up to Jonny standards, but he was much, much better than me. The good news for the team was that Sparks brought his little brother along to be his ball boy. This made us look the most professional outfit in a very amateur league.
From penalties, Sparks could hump the ball about 70m, where Jonny would glide effortlessly across the ground to catch it on the full and spin a perfect pass back to the hooker to restart the game. It saved the wingers having to jump the fence to retrieve the ball or half the time fighting through the bushes to find a lost ball. It generally surprised the opposition too.
And all of this was around the time he was the best player in England and being talked of as the best in the world.
Work Ethic
Two other stories circulate rugby clubs around England about Jonny, that help identify why he became such a hero.
When Jason Robinson switched from league to union, he came with a big reputation. At the time Wilkinson was an expert in running a game but not running during the game. He passed or kicked, kicked or passed. While he was brilliant at it, he never took on the line.
When Robinson was introduced to the England squad, he apparently made a fool of Wilkinson by stepping round him in training. Some would sulk, others would get frustrated, Wilkinson asked Robinson to stay behind and show him some moves. Later that year he was stepping through holes in Six Nations’ defences, cementing his place as the world’s best player.
Bending it like Beckham
The second story involves David Beckham. Sometime around 2004 Wilkinson and Beckham were two of Adidas’s hottest properties and they put them together in a great ad. The scene where Jonny shows Beckham how to measure his run up to the rugby ball developed into Beckham’s trade mark run up to a free kick – up until then he just did what every other footballer did, walk back a bit then run up to whack the ball.
The precise measurement Beckham developed helped him become the world’s best free kick taker. It’s a skill he’s passed on to Ronaldo at Manchester United and one you’ll see at the World Cup in a few weeks. All thanks to Jonny Wilkinson.
Retirement
Jonny is held in high regard in Toulon, with his team mates having his name stitched in to their shirts for his last game at the weekend. They’ve also appointed him as a skills coach for the team, to pass on his experience to the next generation. While his kicking stance, drop goals, dedication and big hits will be missed on the field, the legend of Jonny will live on.
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