A few days ago it was announced that Jonny Wilkinson will receive his OBE. About time too.
I remember November 2003 like it was yesterday. I was 16 years old and my older ‘football-mad’ cousin had been won over by how well that team was playing – he was truly caught up with the Rugby buzz. So we decided to sneak myself into a pub which had opened especially early just for this match.
Jonny has been nothing other than a true super hero for the game of Rugby.
I was wearing my (then) unbeaten England Jersey and I boldly walked up to the pub and got straight in (being 6ft 4in tall helped), my cousin ordered a couple of Heinekens and we got ready to watch 120 minutes of nerve jangling, nail biting and truly brilliant rugby. The match was too hard to call. Everyone who knew anything about the sport was telling us all that it was too hard to call. The England team had re-found their form, they were unbeaten and were taking on the best in the world in their own back-yard – and that was the kicker. The only time I had seen England play at Twickenham they had lost to this Australia team a couple of years before…its all that kept rattling around in my head. Could a Northern Hemisphere team really turn over Australia at home? Surely not?
I firmly believed it was his destiny to win that match for England.
The next 80 minutes was top drawer. The Mike Catt effect was working well, the pub was in great voice and I managed to get an entire pub singing Swing Low Sweet Chariot at the top of their lungs – all except the two Australians in the corner.
Throughout the match I was nervous except for one moment. The final moment. Matt Dawson swung the ball out to Jonny Wilkinson and he slotted home a drop goal for the win. It was not a moment of nerves and anguish but a moment of relief and a culmination of 4 years hard work all coming together. I was more nervous about the pass to Wilkinson than the kick itself – I firmly believed it was his destiny to win that match for England.
Wilkinson has been nothing other than a true super hero for the game of Rugby. He is and always will be a true beacon of light for the sport he was so brilliant at. He would always put his heart and soul into every performance and would lay his body on the line no matter what the prize. In England he was a one club man (not such a rare feat in Rugby compared to Football and other pro sports) and much to my annoyance in all of the years I watched Saracens I never got to see Jonny Wilkinson play against them. However I was truly honoured to be at Cardiff last year to see Jonny Wilkinson’s last match on home soil. And he was brilliant. He ran the show for Toulon, didn’t allow Saracens anywhere near him, and when they did get close he still lsotted home the points. He schooled Owen Farrell in what makes a top drawer fly half and it was like looking at the Jonny Wilkinson of 2003 all over again.
As the phrase goes it takes special players to do special things at special times. Which sums up that day in November perfectly. So a massive congratulations to Jonny Wilkinson on his OBE. Not many sportsmen get such a truly great honour and very few deserve it more.
