BORN: 25/5/79
BIRTHPLACE:Frimley
HEIGHT: 5’10″
WEIGHT: 14st 0lb
CLUB: Newcastle Falcons 1997- 2009 Toulon 2009- Present Day
POSITION: Fly Half
COUNTRY: England
TEST CAPS: 86
TEST POINTS: 1141 – (155C, 232PG, 35DG)

Jonny’s love for rugby began at just the young age of 4. His father, Phil, played rugby from the age of 18 and Mark, his older brother by 18 months followed in his father’s footsteps by also playing. So it was almost set in stone that Jonny would play. Educated at Pierrepont, Frensham and Lord Wandsworth College , Hampshire, before his rugby career began he had played both cricket and tennis for Hampshire Schools. But it was when England rugby selectors had seen him as part of the English 18′s Schools tour of Australia in 1997 where he clocked up a massive 94 points in only 5 games that Jonny got discovered and his career began.

Jonny was persuaded by one of his teachers Steve Bates to sign a two year deal with Newcastle Falcons, which resulted in him turning down a place at Durham University . Jonny was soon identified as Rob Andrews’s future fly half successor, and he played a small but influential part of Newcastle ’s 1997/8 championship winning season.

It was clear from then that Jonny would make a big impact both at club and international level. After just 58 minutes of club rugby Jonny was called up as a bench replacement for England against Scotland at Murryfield. However, Jonny did not make his first England debut until England v’s Ireland as a replacement for Mike Catt in the 79th minute of the game, making him the England ‘s youngest player this century.

Despite being virtually unknown outside of the north east Jonny was chosen for the 1998 England summer tour from hell in Australia, a disaster for many players including a psychological blow for Wilkinson. Newcastle ’s confidence in Wilkinson remained however as he is made first choice fly-half for the 1998/99 season.

1999 saw Jonny being called up again to the England team for the Five Nations match against Scotland on the 20th February 1999 . The championship was a complete success for Jonny. Will Greenwood ‘s injury gave Jonny the opportunity to play at centre and also kick at goal. In the first three matches he had kicked 16 out of 17 attempts including scoring all of England ‘s points against Ireland with seven penalties, equalling the record previously held by Simon Hodgskinson and the one and only Rob Andrew.

It was his dream to make the England team in time for the 2003 World Cup but it seems certain that his dream will become reality four years early in October of 1999. On the 31st of August 1999 , Jonny was announced as part of the England World Cup 30 squad.

The 30 man squad saw him playing warm up matches against the USA and Canada , putting over 100 points past the USA , Jonny converted 13 of the 16 conversions to be kicked.

The World Cup arrived and on the 2nd October 1999 Jonny pulled on the England jersey for the 11th time. In an amazing performance Jonny scored 1 try, 6 conversions and 5 penalties, a massive 32 points in England ‘s 67-8 massacre of Italy at Twickenham.

His first International try came in the 52 minute of the game when Austin Healey kicked the ball over the try line, Jonny as a support runner was in the right place to be able to dive upon the ball, scoring and getting to his feet looking elated but stunned.

His final tally for the World Cup was 63 points, made up of 1 try, 10 penalties and 14 conversions. However, many say Jonny was wrongly dropped for the quarter final against South Africa .

Jonny was then deservedly chosen by Clive Woodward to start every match in England ‘s championship winning team in the inaugural 2000 Six Nations Campaign. In addition to setting a new championship points tally he not only cemented his position as England ‘s Premier fly half but also as probably the hardest tackling number 10 in the world.

2001 saw Jonny help Newcastle beat Quins to win the domestic cup. This leads to his selection for the Lions tour to Australia . Jonny played in all three tests but throws a series turning pass to Joe Roff as they lose 2-1.

England secure their first Grand Slam since 1995 with Jonny’s help. This leads to Jonny’s selection for the 2003 World Cup Squad. Jonny has a good tournament which is made even better when he kicks the winning drop goal in the final against Australia .

2004 sees the start of a bad run for Jonny. He is ruled out of all but 48 minutes of playing time due to a neck and shoulder injury. A haematoma in the arm then rules Jonny out of the 2004/05 season.

Jonny returned to club rugby mid way through the 2005 season, but a knee ligament injury causes him to watch from the sidelines again. Fitness does return to earn him a place on the Lions Tour to New Zealand , but is injured in the second test.

Appendicitis and a hernia restrict his game time for club in the 2005/06 season, but he returns in April. Anothe injury to his knee rules him out until November of the 2006/07 season. On return Jonny lacerates a kidney and is out until January.

2007 sees Jonny return to play for Newcastle and selected for the Six Nations. He helps England to defeat Scotland and Italy , but injury rules him out of the last two games. Jonny led England in the second Test against South Africa in Pretoria
in June when tour captain Jason Robinson was ruled out injured and
played in all the RWC warm-up matches against Wales and France, twice,
in August.

In scoring all his country’s 12 points against Australia in the quarter final of the 2007 Rugby World Cup Jonny overtook Scotland’s Scott Hastings to become the highest points scorer in Rugby World Cup history. England and Jonny reached the final of the 2007 World Cup losing out to South Africa in the end. This became the latest of many records Jonny had already broken and was set to break in his short and intermittent playing career. It was against Italy in February 2008 where Jonny  became the first English player to score 1000 international points while his 29th drop goal against France took him ahead of Hugo Porta as the leading proponent in that field. As well as this Jonny Wilkinson OBE is the leading points scorer in test rugby, his
nine points against Scotland in March 2008 takes him to 1099 and ahead of Neil
Jenkins.

After sustaining a dislocated knee playing for Newcastle Falcons ruling Jonny out of the rest of the season, Jonny completed a move to the French side Toulon in the summer of 2009. Making a full recovery from his Injury Jonny played for Toulon for the first time on July 24th Scoring 9 points.

Jonny recently made his first start for England in 17 months, and contributed 13 points. England won the World Cup 2011 warm up game against Wales 23-19 as a result. Jonny has also just started his own official website www.jonnywilkinson.com, giving fans an insight into his rugby life at Toulon.