England sweatshirt England rugby player - Jonny Wilkinson Jonny Wilkinson, the England and Newcastle Falcons rugby player was born Jonathan Peter Wilkinson on 25th May 1979 in Frimley, Surrey. Jonny Wilkinson played rugby from the age of four, playing for Farnham RFC, he continued to play throughout his school days making his mark while at Lord Wandsworth College where he captained their first Xl. Jonny Wilkinson first tasted international rugby in 1995 when he was selected for the England under-16's team, two years later he averaged 19 points a game and shone out during an England under-18's tour of Australia. He was scouted by the Newcastle Falcons rugby union team in 1997, just as he was due to begin studying at Durham University, so he deferred his studies for a year to take up full-time rugby. Jonny Wilkinson proved to be a great success in his first year with the Newcastle Falcons and so continued to play professional rugby in favour of taking his position at University. in his first season with the Newcastle Falcons Jonny Wilkinson played as inside centre in a team that won the 1997/98 Premiership, it was also in the same year (1998) that Jonny Wilkinson won his first senior cap with the England rugby team. In April 1998 Jonny Wilkinson made his international debut at the age of eighteen, as a substitute in a match against Ireland at Twickenham. Then by 1999 Jonny Wilkinson had established himself as a regular fly-half for the England team and made his Rugby World Cup debut against Italy in the same year. England reached the quarter finals of the 1999 Rugby World Cup but by this time Jonny Wilkinson found himself on the substitutes bench in a match that England lost. He was returned to the starting line-up and enjoyed his first competition success with Engalnd when they won the 2000 Six Nations tournament. Jonny Wilkinson continued to feature for his club side and the national team in the ensuing years but his finest moment came in 2003 when England headed to the Rugby World Cup in Australia under the captaincy of Martin Johnson. In the first stage of the competition England finished top of their pool winning each of their first round matches with many of the points attributed to the kicking of Jonny Wilkinson. In the quarter final against Wales Jonny Wilkinson scored 23 of the points in England's 28-17 win sending them into a semi-final against France. England beat France 24-7 in their semi-final and this time all of their points came from Jonny Wilkinson's exceptional kicking. The final saw England matched against the host nation Australia and Jonny Wilkinson didn't disappoint, with only 26 seconds of extra time remaining and the match level at 17-17 he kicked a drop goal and England won their first ever Rugby World Cup. The World Cup winning performance made Jonny Wilkinson a celebrity and a household name, he won the BBC sports personality of the year 2003 and was awarded an OBE by Her Majesty the Queen in 2004.
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