Jonny Wilkinson

Jonathan Peter Wilkinson, (born 25 May 1979) is an English former rugby union player.

A fly-half, he played for Newcastle Falcons and Toulon and represented England and the British & Irish Lions.

Wilkinson was born on 25 May 1979 at Frimley Park Hospital in Frimley, Surrey and grew up in Farnham.

He attended Pierrepont School, Frensham and Lord Wandsworth College near Hook, Hampshire, and played at youth level for Farnham Rugby Club.

He gained a place at the University of Durham, but gave his place up in 1997 to become a professional rugby union player with the Newcastle Falcons.

Wilkinson started his career at Newcastle School of Rugby as an inside centre, competing for a place with international veterans such as Inga Tuigamala, and Lion Alan Tait.

He became a fixture in a side that went on to win the 1997-98 Allied Dunbar Premiership title.

By March 1998 he was in the full England Test squad.

Wilkinson began his international career as an unused replacement against Scotland, before coming off the bench, replacing Mike Catt, to play on the wing against Ireland at Twickenham on 4 April 1998; he was only 18.

He then participated in England's "Tour of Hell" in June 1998 that saw them suffer heavy defeats to both New Zealand and Australia (who defeated them 76–0).

Wilkinson returned to domestic duties by taking over from Rob Andrew, who was made Falcons head coach (later Director of Rugby), as both their fly-half and goal kicker.

Wilkinson became a fixture in the England team, and started in all their matches in the 1999 Five Nations Championship.

He played for the Falcons in their 1999 Tetley's Bitter Cup final defeat to London Wasps.

Wilkinson played for England in matches against Australia, the United States and Canada as the 1999 Rugby World Cup approached.

He made his Rugby World Cup debut against Italy, scoring one try, converting another six and landing five penalty goals to rack up 32 individual points in the 67–7 win.

After playing another pool game against the All Blacks, which England lost 30–16, he was rested against Tonga, a match won by England 101–10.

Following the quarter-final playoff win against Fiji, Wilkinson was relegated to the bench for the quarter-final against South Africa.

England lost the match by 44–21 and exited the tournament.

Clive Woodward refused to expand on his selection choice at the time, and following the match some commentators blamed the head coach's lack of consistency in team selection as harming England's World Cup bid.

The following year Wilkinson played in all five of England's 2000 Six Nations Championship matches.

England won the championship, however they missed a Grand Slam after losing their final match against Scotland.

Wilkinson then toured South Africa with England in June 2000, kicking all of the points in their 27–22 win in Bloemfontein.

He was then capped another three times for England during the end of year internationals.

He toured twice with the British & Irish Lions, in 2001 to Australia and 2005 to New Zealand, winning 6 caps.

In 2001, England again won the Six Nations Championship.

After the opening win over Wales, Wilkinson set an individual Six Nations Championship points scoring record with 35 points against Italy at Twickenham on 17 February, 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: a late Newcastle try saw them defeat Harlequins by three points, by 30–27.

As a result of Neil Jenkins suffering a number of injuries and a dip in form, Wilkinson was picked as the first choice fly-half and goal kicker for the 2001 British Lions tour to Australia in July.

The Lions won the first test over Australia by 29–13 in Brisbane, in which Wilkinson scored nine points through his kicking.

The second test, on 7 July, saw the Lions lose 35–14 at the Docklands Stadium.

He is particularly known for scoring the winning drop goal in the 2003 Rugby World Cup Final and is widely acknowledged as one of the best rugby union players of all time.

He played club rugby for twelve seasons in the English Premiership with Newcastle Falcons.

He was an integral member of the England squad which won the 2003 World Cup, scoring the winning drop goal in the last minute of extra time against Australia in the final.

He came back from several injuries and was part of the England team which reached the final of the 2007 World Cup.

In 2009 he moved to Toulon, where he won two Heineken Cups and one Top 14 championship in five seasons.

Wilkinson won 91 caps for England.

He retired from rugby after the end of the 2013–14 season.

In 2016, he was inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame.

Wilkinson is currently a studio pundit for ITV Sport, working on their coverage of the Six Nations Championship, Rugby World Cup and other rugby events.