Rugby Union player, born in Surrey, SE England, UK He studied at Lord Wandsworth College, Hampshire, and played cricket and tennis for Hampshire Schools before deciding on a career in rugby. He signed for NE team Newcastle Falcons, playing at fly half, and was part of their 19978 championship winning season. Called up to the England first-team squad, his debut against Ireland (1998) as a substitute late in the game made him England's youngest player of the 20th-c. A successful appearance in the 1999 Five Nations competition followed, where he scored all of England's points against Ireland with seven penalties, a record-equalling achievement. As a member of the 1999 World Cup squad he produced further outstanding performances, and in the inaugural 2000 Six Nations campaign he established a new championship points tally and cemented his position as England's premier fly half. In the 2003 World Cup, he scored all England's points in the 247 semi-final win over France, and in the final against Australia he secured his country's victory with a drop-goal in the last minutes of extra time. He was voted the International Rugby Players' Association player of the year in 2003, and also won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award. He was appointed England captain in 2004 but was dogged by injury and missed the 2005 Six Nations Championship. Later that year he joined the British and Irish Lions tour of New Zealand.
| Jonny Wilkinson | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| The cover of his autobiography. | |||
| Full name | Jonathan Peter Wilkinson | ||
| Date of birth | 1979-05-25 | ||
| Place of birth | Frimley, Surrey | ||
| Height | 1.78 m | ||
| Weight | 85 kg | ||
| Nickname | Wilko | ||
| Rugby union career | |||
| Position | Fly-half | ||
| Professional clubs | Caps | (points) | |
| 1997- | Newcastle Falcons | 113 | (1395) |
| correct as of 12 August, 2006. | |||
| 1998- | England | 52 | (817) |
| correct as of 12 August, 2006. | |||
| Other Information | |||
| Occupation | Professional rugby union footballer | ||
| School attended | Lord Wandsworth College | ||
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.
Wilkinson was educated at Pierrepont in Frensham and Lord Wandsworth College, playing rugby as a junior, he was talent-scouted by his school rugby coach. By 1998, he had already been included in the full time England national team, making his debut from the bench against Ireland at Twickenham on April 4 of that year aged 18.
Wilkinson had established himself as a regular England rugby player, and subsequently made his World Cup debut at the 1999 World Cup. His elevation to worldwide acclaim was at the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia, where Wilkinson kicked the winning drop goal in extra time at Telstra Stadium to win England's first ever world cup, as well as breaking the dominance of southern hemisphere nations.
Early life
Jonny Wilkinson grew up in Hampshire and developed a love of rugby early in life, participating in the sport from the age of just four years old, playing for Farnham RFC.
Wilkinson's first recognition at national level came when he was 16, when he was selected for the England under-16 representative team.
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.
He was a part of England’s subsequent disastrous ‘Tour of Hell’ in June 1998 which 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. After starting both matches during 'The Tour of Hell' against the All Blacks and Australia, he became a firm fixture in the England team and started in all the matches of the 1999 Five Nations.
With under ten international caps to his name, Wilkinson proceeded to play for England in matches against Australia, the United States and Canada as the 1999 World Cup approached.
After playing the remaining pool games against the All Blacks and Fiji, and being rested against Tonga, he was controversially relegated to the bench by head coach Clive Woodward for the quarter-final against South Africa, which England lost and made their exit from the World Cup.
The following year Wilkinson played in all five of England's matches at the Six Nations Championship, which now included Italy. England won the championship, narrowly missing out on a tournament grand slam by losing their final match against Scotland.
2001-2002
The following year began with England's title defense of the Six Nations. After the opening win over the Welsh, Wilkinson set an individual Six Nations points scoring record with 35 points against Italy at Twickenham on February 17, to overtake the record of his Newcastle Falcons mentor, Rob Andrew. England won all their subsequent matches during the tournament, with the exception of the Irish match, which was postponed until October.
More success followed for Wilkinson after the Six Nations, as the Falcons won the Powergen Cup, where a late Newcastle try saw them defeat Harlequin F.C. He was under an injury cloud coming into the third and final test against the Wallabies, but made a full recovery, and scored a try in the game, and going he onto equal the Lions' best individual scoring total in a Test, with 18 points in the second match against Australia.
The incomplete Six Nations was concluded in October, with England playing Ireland. They missed out on a grand slam, though England won the tournament, as they had a better points difference than Ireland, who like England, won four of their five fixtures.
In a match against Australia for the Cook Cup in November, Wilkinson scored all of England's 21 points in their 21 to 15 victory at Twickenham.
Going for a third Six Nations title in a row, England were off to a good start to their 2002 tournament with wins over Scotland and Ireland, before going down to France in Paris, though they did win their remaining fixtures against Wales and Italy, though France went onto complete a grand slam.
Wilkinson played a large role in England's first Autumn match of the year, against the All Blacks. It was Wilkinson that punted the ball to safety to end the match, as he 75,000 fans at Twickenham went wild as England pulled off a three point victory over All Blacks.
England then faced the then Tri Nations champions Australia, who had come off a loss to Ireland. With the two tries by Ben Cohen, with Wilkinson's kicking accuracy, it saw England defeat Australia by just a single point, 32 to 31. England aimed to pull off three wins in a row against the big guns of the Southern hemisphere, with a third tests against South Africa. The physical match saw Wilkinson exit the game with his right arm in a sling, and the England camp believe that Wilkinson was particularly targeted by South Africa during the game.
2003
The opening match of the 2003 Six Nations Championship was between last year's grand slam winners France, and England, both whom were high in confidence following their success in their end of year tests against nations from the Southern hemisphere.
The final match was against Ireland at Lansdowne Road, which would determine whether or not England would become grand slam champions. Like their previous two matches, England put 40 points on their opponents to become the 2003 champions and seemingly become serious contenders for the upcoming Rugby World Cup in Australia. Wilkinson 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. With England's 45 to 14 win over France in September, in which Wilkinson scored 18 points, England were now considered one of the favourites at the World Cup which as set to start in a month's time.
England's first match at the 2003 World Cup was at Subiaco Oval in Perth, where they defeated Georgia 84 points to six, with Wilkinson scoring 16 from goals. He played a large role in the pool match against the Springboks, in which he scored 20 of England's 25 points in the victory. The subsequent match against Samoa was a little close, but England still won, 35 to 22. He was rested for England's final match against Uruguay.
England moved into the quarter finals, where they met Wales at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane. Wilkinson scored 23 points in the match, which England won 28 to 13 to proceed to the semi-finals. England won 24 to 7, with Wilkinson scoring all 24 of England's points to see them through to the final. Wilkinson made history in the final against Australia, where he kicked a drop goal in extra time that saw England win the final 20 points to seventeen. 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. In the same year he became the youngest ever rugby union player to receive a New Year's Honour with an MBE (he was listed prior to England's World Cup victory), and an OBE which he was awarded in 2004.
2004-2005
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.
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.
2006-present
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.
Rob Andrew, then Director of Rugby at Falcons, said subsequently that there was no chance of Wilkinson going on England's summer tour and that he would be taking the summer off.
Rob Andrew stated in July, pre-season to the 2006-07 Guinness Premiership, that Wilkinson would be ready to challenge for an England position come the November internationals. In early August head coach of England, Andy Robinson announced the Elite Player Squad for the 2006/07 season, in which Wilkinson was included in.
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