65 Facts About Jonny Wilkinson

Jonny Wilkinson 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.

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

Jonny Wilkinson 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.

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

Jonny 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.

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

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

Jonny Wilkinson 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.

Jonny 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.

Jonny 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.

Jonny Wilkinson then participated in England's "Tour of Hell" in June 1998 that saw them suffer heavy defeats to both New Zealand and Australia.

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

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

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

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

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

Jonny Wilkinson was blamed by many for throwing a long pass inside his 22 that was intercepted by Joe Roff: this was seen as the turning point in the match, and probably the test series.

Jonny Wilkinson played a large role in England's win over the All Blacks.

Jonny Wilkinson scored a try, and kicked two conversions and three penalty goals, as well as a drop goal.

Jonny Wilkinson was the youngest member of England's World Cup squad.

Jonny Wilkinson played a major role in the pool match against the Springboks, in which he scored 20 of England's 25 points, in the victory which held their opponents to just six.

Jonny Wilkinson became the tournament's leading points scorer with 113 points.

Jonny Wilkinson was voted the BBC Sports Personality of the Year and named the 2003 IRB International Player of the Year.

Jonny Wilkinson was named captain of the England team on 4 October 2004, replacing Lawrence Dallaglio, who had resigned five weeks earlier.

Jonny Wilkinson missed the opening matches of the 2005 Six Nations Championship and on his return to Newcastle on 13 March 2005 he injured the same knee again.

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Jonny Wilkinson made his first international appearance since the 2003 Rugby World Cup Final on 23 May at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff as the Lions played Argentina.

Rob Andrew, then Director of Rugby at Falcons, said that there was no chance of Jonny Wilkinson going on England's summer tour and that he would be taking the summer off.

Captaincy of the Falcons was given to former Wallabies fullback Matt Burke, a move that Andrew believed would allow Jonny Wilkinson to concentrate more on his game and a full return to rugby.

Jonny Wilkinson returned from this injury in the Premiership game against Leicester Tigers on 27 January 2007, coming off the bench after 37 minutes.

On 29 January 2007, Jonny Wilkinson was selected at fly-half in the starting line up for England in their 2007 Six Nations Championship opener against Scotland.

Jonny Wilkinson was awarded the RBS Man of the Match as adjudicated by BBC commentator, Brian Moore.

Jonny Wilkinson helped England to victory against Tonga which put them through to the quarter-finals.

Jonny Wilkinson was one of only four players to have started both the 2003 and 2007 Rugby World Cup Finals, the other three being Phil Vickery, Jason Robinson and Ben Kay.

Jonny Wilkinson then amassed 27 points in England's next two wins against Italy and France.

Jonny Wilkinson was not considered for Martin Johnson's first England squad due to a shoulder injury.

Jonny Wilkinson was joined by Danny Cipriani on the sidelines after the Wasps player missed out due to injury.

On 1 July 2008, Jonny Wilkinson was named in Martin Johnson's Elite Player Squad and was the only specialist fly-half in the squad.

Jonny Wilkinson made his recovery from shoulder surgery to score 22 points on his return game against Northampton on 14 September 2008, including a 45-metre last minute drop goal.

Jonny Wilkinson's injury facilitated a recall to the England squad for the Autumn Internationals for Danny Cipriani, who had returned from a serious ankle injury on 1 October 2008.

Jonny Wilkinson did not appear again for England until 1,169 days after the 2003 Rugby World Cup triumph, for the opening game of the 2007 Six Nations Championship against Scotland on 3 February 2007.

Jonny Wilkinson is the world record drop goal scorer in international rugby with a total of 36.

Jonny Wilkinson was then selected to tour Australia with the elite squad but was not selected as first choice fly half, nevertheless Jonny Wilkinson landed the winning points in the second test between England and Australia.

However, Jonny Wilkinson reclaimed the record during the 2011 Six Nations Championship, a tournament during which he came off the bench in each of England's five games.

In May 2009 Jonny Wilkinson agreed to join French club Toulon on a two-year contract, leaving Newcastle after 12 years.

Jonny Wilkinson then landed 7 penalties and a drop goal to defeat Owen Farrell's Saracens.

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Jonny Wilkinson finished as the ERC European Player of the Year for the 2013 tournament, having not missed a single place kick in the knockouts with 17 from 17 attempts and finished with 56 points in the knockouts alone and 108 points in the entire tournament.

In May 2014, Jonny Wilkinson announced that he would retire from all rugby at the end of the season.

Jonny Wilkinson scored a record 29th Test drop goal against France in the 2008 Six Nations Championship.

Jonny Wilkinson's first converted penalty against Scotland on 8 March 2008, took him 3 points past Wales's Neil Jenkins tally of 1090 Test rugby points.

On 26 February 2011, Jonny Wilkinson regained the record for the highest tally of International points, overtaking Dan Carter of New Zealand by scoring a penalty against France in a Six Nations match at Twickenham.

Jonny Wilkinson passed Ronan O'Gara to regain the overall points record total of 526 in the 2010 Six Nations Championship, on 13 March 2010.

Jonny Wilkinson holds the Rugby World Cup points record with 277 and is the only player to score points in two Rugby World Cup Finals.

In 2002, Jonny Wilkinson was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire.

On 3 April 2009 at Guildford Cathedral, Jonny Wilkinson was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Surrey for services to the sports industry.

Jonny Wilkinson announced his retirement from the English national squad in early December 2011.

Jonny Wilkinson wrote a column for The Times occasionally until 2011, often during periods of high media focus on rugby, such as Six Nations tournaments and Rugby World Cups.

Jonny Wilkinson has written five books, which have been published by Headline.

Jonny Wilkinson has previously stated that he respects Black a great deal, and that Black taught him a lot about "values and ethics".

Jonny Wilkinson has been open about managing the stresses he felt during his playing career.

Jonny Wilkinson's brother, Mark, was a Newcastle player who made 16 appearances in the Premiership for the side between 2002 and 2005, predominantly as a centre.

Jonny Wilkinson's father, Phil, was a rugby player and cricketer, and his mother, Philippa, played squash at county level.

On 28 October 2013, Jonny Wilkinson married his girlfriend of eight years, scaffolding company heiress Shelley Jenkins, in a private ceremony at the town hall of the French resort of Bandol, to the west of Toulon.

Jonny Wilkinson followed Buddhist principles and teachings to help control his perfectionist tendencies, according to an interview he gave with The Times newspaper in 2009.

Jonny Wilkinson seeks to live consciously rather than reactively, and to embrace all the positive aspects of humanity such as acceptance, compassion and a true connection with others.

Jonny Wilkinson is widely known as a teetotaler, but broke that habit after England lost to South Africa in the 2007 Rugby World Cup Final.

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