Martin Johnson

Martin Osborne Johnson CBE (born 9 March 1970) is an English retired rugby union player who represented and captained England and Leicester in a career spanning 16 seasons.

Johnson made his debut for Leicester Tigers in 1989 and in 1993 debuted for as well as being a late call up to the 1993 British Lions tour to New Zealand.

In 1989 he was approached by former All Black Colin Meads to try out for the King Country side in New Zealand.

Johnson's trial run was successful and he played two seasons for King Country.

Johnson made his Leicester debut on 14 February 1989 against the R.A.F. rugby team.

His Courage League debut came against champions Bath at Welford Road; Tigers won 15–12 to deny Bath an undefeated season.

In 1990 he was even selected for the New Zealand under-21 side which went on a tour of Australia playing a side that included another of the all-time great lock forwards, John Eales.

Johnson did not feature for the first team again until 1990 as he played in New Zealand.

His return to the first team was again against Bath; on 15 November 1990, due to an injury to Alex Gissing, Johnson started in the third round of 1990-91 Pilkington Cup and Tigers won, the first cup game that Bath had lost at The Rec since 1982.

In 1990, Johnson moved to New Zealand to play for King Country and was selected to play for the Under 21 All Blacks.

A recurrence of a shoulder injury limited Johnson to just 5 games for Leicester in the 1990–91 season, though he did make his divisional debut for the Midlands.

Johnson returned to action in August 1991 as Leicester toured Canada, but Gissing was still preferred for the early season club matches.

Johnson established himself in the side in early 1991 playing 11 consecutive games from October onward and only missing 5 of the next 26 matches.

Although he made his Leicester debut in the same season, 1988–89, as fellow lock Matt Poole, the pair did not start a game together until 5 November 1991 against Cambridge University.

They went on to play together 129 times, a club record for a second row partnership.

Johnson was now firmly established in Leicester's first choice line up.

He played every game in the 1992–93 Pilkington Cup as Tigers defeated London Scottish, Nottingham, Exeter and Northampton to set up a final at Twickenham against Harlequins.

Johnson scored Leicester's second try, after taking the ball from a tap penalty 5 meters out, as Leicester won 23–16.

He was a try scorer in the final when Leicester won the 1993 Pilkington Cup and a member of the side which won the 1994-95 Courage League.

During his club career he played 362 games for Leicester, his only senior club, and as well as the cup in 1993 and the league in 1995, he was also captain of the side as they won the 1997 Pilkington Cup and four consecutive Premiership titles between 1999–2002, and became the first side to retain the European Cup, winning in 2001 and 2002.

He made his test debut against in the opening game of the 1993 Five Nations Championship on 16 January 1993.

He was due to play in an England 'A' game when he was unexpectedly summoned to Twickenham to replace the injured Wade Dooley.

With only a 20-minute line-out session with his new teammates before the game, Johnson was thrown into the deep end.

An early clash of heads with French prop Laurent Seigne left Johnson concussed, but he continued to play as England won 16–15.

Johnson did not feature again for England in the Five Nations that season but was called up for an uncapped tour to Canada.

After featuring in England's loss to Canada he was called up, again as a replacement for Dooley, for the 1993 British Lions tour to New Zealand.

Dooley had returned to England for his father's funeral and was blocked from returning to the tour by the Lions' own committee.

Johnson was an ever-present as England won the Grand Slam in the 1995 Five Nations Championship.

In 1997 he was named as captain for the victorious British Lions tour to South Africa, in 2001 he became the first man to captain the Lions twice as he led the 2001 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia.

He became England captain in 1999 and led the side in 39 matches, the third most ever.

He was captain as England reached the quarter finals of the 1999 Rugby World Cup, won the Grand Slam in the 2003 Six Nations Championship and as England won the 2003 Rugby World Cup.

He captained England to victory in the 2003 Rugby World Cup, and is regarded as one of the greatest locks ever to have played, and one of England's greatest ever players.

The 2003 Rugby World Cup Final was his 84th and final international match.

His final season was in 2004–05.

On 1 July 2008 he became the England team manager.

Under his management England won the 2011 Six Nations Championship, their first since 2003.

He left the post in November 2011 following England's quarter final defeat at the 2011 Rugby World Cup and has not taken another management position in the game since.

Johnson was born in Shirley, Solihull, the second of three brothers – his younger brother Will is a former back row forward for Leicester.

At the age of seven, his family moved to Market Harborough, Leicestershire, where Martin attended Ridgeway Primary School, Welland Park School and Robert Smyth School.

Johnson briefly played American football for the Leicester Panthers as a tight end or defensive end.