I finished reading his book a couple of weeks ago, and whilst I knew about his personal demons so to speak I was shocked by the levels that he plunged to - though not entirely surprised. As a nation through the early part of the century we came to rely on Jonny as a points machine that kept the English rugby machine ticking over and winning countless of matches. No doubt the pressure of expectation was enormous but no more so than his own drive for perfection in everything he did on the rugby field; to be the best kicker, the best passer, the best tackler and so on.
We will all have fond memories of that ugly drop goal that he put over against Australia in November 2003. It was the climax to a lifetime of practice, endless hours of training and countless hours spent preparing himself mentally - sometimes to the detriment of his own psychological state.
Of course first and foremost everyone remembers his kicking. The general rule for playing England between 2000 and 2003 was if you gave away a penalty in your own half then you were likely to be punished with three points. Such was he confidence we all had in his ability that during one of his many international comebacks I noted to a friend that having Jonny on the pitch was like have a warm safety blanket and that every time a penalty was awarded you just had to watch and wait for the flags to go up in the comfort of that blanket that was Jonny! It was perhaps why there was such shock that his kicking was a bit "off" during the last world cup!
| The English safety blanket! |
His tackling earlier in his career was something else. Lewis Moody describes his first encounter with Jonny at Under-21 level as wanting to take on the young guy and teaching him a thing or two about rugby, only to be knocked backwards on first impact by Wilkinson's 100% committed impactful tackle! In terms of tackling, Jonny revolutionized the fly half position and made it a position that oppositions couldn't target to run over when taking on England. It was also undoubtedly Jonny's undoing in terms of the countless injuries that he suffered, coupled with the inability to rest and always wanting to better himself!
Off the pitch he epitomized everything you'd want from a professional sports personality. He was committed to training and would do more than most once you take into account his kicking practice. He rarely drank during his international career – of course there was the odd celebratory drink but it was by no means regular. He was never caught in any dodgy compromising positions – certainly no dwarf tossing competitions! All this would lead you to believe he was boring – I don’t really care, like Paul Scholes, he was an amazingly talented professional who just enjoyed his job and was grateful for the opportunity his talent gave him.
This has all been pretty one sided so far – so what of the things he wasn’t so good at?? Well he was never a great runner of the ball. In his book he talks of when he first trained with Jason Robinson and how he went back to training wanting to improve his step and his speed. He never really got to Jason’s ability (but then who could?) but he was determined to do everything he could to try! Game management was also never as strong as some of his other fly half counterparts. Looking at the course of his career – Jonny always played best when he had another organizer beside him – Will Greenwood or Mike Catt for example.
| Winner! |
So, was he the best fly half ever to grace the rugby pitch? Tough question and probably one worthy of a whole other blog entry! I can’t think of anyone else I’d want at 10, but then I’m thoroughly biased! No doubt friends in Ireland would call for O’Gara, in New Zealand the calls would be for Carter or Grant Fox and the Welsh might call for Barry John or Phil Bennett. All I know was that it was it was great to see him play and he’ll always be remembered fondly (mainly by the English!).
