Thankyou for the video, for me he was the consumate professional, he arrived at a point where rugby was evolving into what we have today good and not so good, i think it was more than redefining the role of the fly half he set a standard of professionalism for all players.
There's some very odd comments in this vid particularly one below naming a bunch of 10s who played in the amateur era of optional defence and 13st counting as a big player as better than him. Jonny won pretty much everything that there is to win in NH rugby, with his Lions record the only real blot on his career. He remains 3rd highest points scorer in international Tier 1 men's rugby, which given lengthy lay-offs for injury (shoulders, knees, kidney) is remarkable. Even the video this comment is on, seems to omit home and away victories over the All-Blacks in the year preceding the 2003 World Cup, where Wilkinson was the dominant point scorer, one of those victories coming in a series where England played Australia (Tri-Nations Champions), the All Blacks and the Springboks on consecutive weekends and won all three games. People who don't rate Wilkinson are not looking objectively at what he did/achieved in a rugby shirt.
He’s up there with the best ever in any position. He wasn’t just 1 kick if you look at 07 and how bad England had been he managed to get them to the final You can’t do it on your own but Jonny always tried
Difficult to call between Jonny and Carter. Carter has more flair, Jonny had more dog. I recall a program where a number of his contemporaries said that without question Jonny was, pound for pound, the hardest tackler in rugby bar none. The reasons I give Jonny the edge are 1. I’m English (have to admit bias) BUT 2. Carter played his international rugby for what was for all of his career one of or the best team in the world (look who he played with McCaw, Nonu, Kaino, Dagg, Sonny Bill!!!!) whereas Jonny had that luxury for only the few years prior to 2003. 3. (This is the clincher for me) Jonny took himself off to Toulon at the tail end of his career and took them to 2 Heineken Championships in 2 years which was the premier club tournament in the world at the time. Take a look at how, even to this day, Toulon fans revere him, the French KNOW their rugby and don’t throw accolades at the English without a very good reason (they stitched his name onto their shirt for the 2014 final and even sang God Save the Queen after the match!).
Does great goal kicking make a player a better Fly-Half or just a great goal kicker? I ask as it's somewhat convention that the Fly-Half is the best kicker in the side, but there's no law stating that it is the exclusive role of the Fly-Half. So is Wilkinson one of the greatest Fly-Halfs because he raised the standard of the kicking game in the professional era? Or to flip the argument. Were the likes of Stephen Larkham or Mark Ella lesser Fly-Halfs because their nation's rugby culture doesn't stick as rigidly to the "kicking Fly-Half" convention? Wilkinson was a perfectionist, iron willed, had a very cool head, fanatical in defense. He didn't have the xfactor of a Carlos Spencer, or the offensive line slicing ability of Larkham but he didn't need to. I don't believe Wilkinson was as good as Dan Carter. Yet he was at the centre of a cultural moment, and undoubtedly changed the game. Setting the blueprint of the Fly-Half in the professional era. Some of his contemporaries had strengths he lacked, most played behind inferior foward packs. Yet in the end winners are grinners, and none of his contemporaries were as paramount to their teams success
Coming from a South African, if this man's name on a team sheet didn't terrify you, you don't know much about rugby. One of the two or three best goal kickers I've ever seen, expert playmaker, enormous tackler. There was nothing Jonny couldn't do. Want to know how good he was? Let me explain: The year is 2007. England are defending world cup champions, but because they had the exodus of talent after 2003, they were a bit under the pump. So they toured South Africa and they got smeared. 58-10 and 55-22. It got worse; they went to the world cup and was drawn with the Boks and they were obliterated 36-0 which is the biggest defeat of both a defending and a former world champion! But then Wilkinson came back. England then went on to beat a very strong Wallabies side, simply with Wilkinson taking charge of the game. Next up they faced France, the host nation, the team that just eliminated the All Blacks... And beat them too. In the final though, not even Jonny Wilkinson was enough to overturn the imperial march of one of the greatest sides in history, the 2007 Boks. But they came close, and he got them close. One of the greatest ever to play the game, without a question.
Wilkinson wasn't the difference in the QTR Final win against the Wallabies. The England forwards, and typical poor Australian goal kicking made the difference
@@WatchRugby24 He's not even close to being regarded as the best flyhalf ever. Dan Carter was a far better all round player than Mr Wilkinson as was Cliff Morgan, Barry John and Phil Bennet of Wales, Naas botha of South Africa, Grant fox and Carlos Spencer of New Zealand , Stephen Larkham of Australia and a whole host of French 10s. Wilkinson was a good player no doubt but not even close to best 10 ever. But hey that's just my opinion, you obviously don't have to agree with me.
Sadly I don't agree with your opinion either...he had great distribution and controlled a game far better than most...add that to his not good but awesome defence...in one game against ireland he tackled 4 Irish players in one movement with 2 being on opposite wings...when south africa played against England they used to say they had to score a minimum of 24 points because that was the average score wilkinson alone would get...he could kick drop goals from either foot and often scored them not just in the world cup final...he was and still is one of the best fly halfs ever..only people who didn't watch him play think he wasn't that great but can't hold age against a person :-)
"Our country is a corrupt crime infested shit hole nearing collapse, let's go and post about how great we are in the comments of every other nation's rugby videos until we feel better" Pretty tragic lads.
Both….bit of an odd sarcastic comment to make considering England has won world cups in most sports, and South Africa….well, in fairness have at least had a go at some world cups in other sports 🤷♂️
Every rugby schoolboy mimicked the Johnny kick. Absolute legend ❤
@@rolandclaassen1444 many pro's as well 🙌🏼🏴
Thankyou for the video, for me he was the consumate professional, he arrived at a point where rugby was evolving into what we have today good and not so good, i think it was more than redefining the role of the fly half he set a standard of professionalism for all players.
great video
Thanks for the visit 🙌🏼
@@WatchRugby24 Keep it up
@@GGRUGBY appreciate it and will do ❤️
@@WatchRugby24 If you have instagram we can contact
There's some very odd comments in this vid particularly one below naming a bunch of 10s who played in the amateur era of optional defence and 13st counting as a big player as better than him. Jonny won pretty much everything that there is to win in NH rugby, with his Lions record the only real blot on his career. He remains 3rd highest points scorer in international Tier 1 men's rugby, which given lengthy lay-offs for injury (shoulders, knees, kidney) is remarkable. Even the video this comment is on, seems to omit home and away victories over the All-Blacks in the year preceding the 2003 World Cup, where Wilkinson was the dominant point scorer, one of those victories coming in a series where England played Australia (Tri-Nations Champions), the All Blacks and the Springboks on consecutive weekends and won all three games. People who don't rate Wilkinson are not looking objectively at what he did/achieved in a rugby shirt.
That period of prolonged injury was a sod.
Very unfortunate 💔
He’s up there with the best ever in any position.
He wasn’t just 1 kick if you look at 07 and how bad England had been he managed to get them to the final
You can’t do it on your own but Jonny always tried
Very true. One of the best to ever do it 🙌🏼🏴
Difficult to call between Jonny and Carter. Carter has more flair, Jonny had more dog. I recall a program where a number of his contemporaries said that without question Jonny was, pound for pound, the hardest tackler in rugby bar none.
The reasons I give Jonny the edge are 1. I’m English (have to admit bias) BUT 2. Carter played his international rugby for what was for all of his career one of or the best team in the world (look who he played with McCaw, Nonu, Kaino, Dagg, Sonny Bill!!!!) whereas Jonny had that luxury for only the few years prior to 2003. 3. (This is the clincher for me) Jonny took himself off to Toulon at the tail end of his career and took them to 2 Heineken Championships in 2 years which was the premier club tournament in the world at the time. Take a look at how, even to this day, Toulon fans revere him, the French KNOW their rugby and don’t throw accolades at the English without a very good reason (they stitched his name onto their shirt for the 2014 final and even sang God Save the Queen after the match!).
@@glennaston2412 Beautiful summary. Jonny was an absolute legend 🏴🔥
Does great goal kicking make a player a better Fly-Half or just a great goal kicker?
I ask as it's somewhat convention that the Fly-Half is the best kicker in the side, but there's no law stating that it is the exclusive role of the Fly-Half.
So is Wilkinson one of the greatest Fly-Halfs because he raised the standard of the kicking game in the professional era?
Or to flip the argument. Were the likes of Stephen Larkham or Mark Ella lesser Fly-Halfs because their nation's rugby culture doesn't stick as rigidly to the "kicking Fly-Half" convention?
Wilkinson was a perfectionist, iron willed, had a very cool head, fanatical in defense.
He didn't have the xfactor of a Carlos Spencer, or the offensive line slicing ability of Larkham but he didn't need to.
I don't believe Wilkinson was as good as Dan Carter. Yet he was at the centre of a cultural moment, and undoubtedly changed the game. Setting the blueprint of the Fly-Half in the professional era.
Some of his contemporaries had strengths he lacked, most played behind inferior foward packs. Yet in the end winners are grinners, and none of his contemporaries were as paramount to their teams success
Coming from a South African, if this man's name on a team sheet didn't terrify you, you don't know much about rugby.
One of the two or three best goal kickers I've ever seen, expert playmaker, enormous tackler. There was nothing Jonny couldn't do.
Want to know how good he was? Let me explain:
The year is 2007. England are defending world cup champions, but because they had the exodus of talent after 2003, they were a bit under the pump.
So they toured South Africa and they got smeared. 58-10 and 55-22. It got worse; they went to the world cup and was drawn with the Boks and they were obliterated 36-0 which is the biggest defeat of both a defending and a former world champion!
But then Wilkinson came back.
England then went on to beat a very strong Wallabies side, simply with Wilkinson taking charge of the game. Next up they faced France, the host nation, the team that just eliminated the All Blacks... And beat them too.
In the final though, not even Jonny Wilkinson was enough to overturn the imperial march of one of the greatest sides in history, the 2007 Boks. But they came close, and he got them close.
One of the greatest ever to play the game, without a question.
@@randomlyfactual1943 facts 🙌🏼 thanks for taking the time to comment 🔥❤️
Wilkinson wasn't the difference in the QTR Final win against the Wallabies.
The England forwards, and typical poor Australian goal kicking made the difference
Good tackler and kicker but not much else
Also a good leader and widely regarding as the best fly-half ever
Plainly you know nothing about rugby union.
@@WatchRugby24
He's not even close to being regarded as the best flyhalf ever. Dan Carter was a far better all round player than Mr Wilkinson as was Cliff Morgan, Barry John and Phil Bennet of Wales, Naas botha of South Africa, Grant fox and Carlos Spencer of New Zealand , Stephen Larkham of Australia and a whole host of French 10s. Wilkinson was a good player no doubt but not even close to best 10 ever. But hey that's just my opinion, you obviously don't have to agree with me.
Sadly I don't agree with your opinion either...he had great distribution and controlled a game far better than most...add that to his not good but awesome defence...in one game against ireland he tackled 4 Irish players in one movement with 2 being on opposite wings...when south africa played against England they used to say they had to score a minimum of 24 points because that was the average score wilkinson alone would get...he could kick drop goals from either foot and often scored them not just in the world cup final...he was and still is one of the best fly halfs ever..only people who didn't watch him play think he wasn't that great but can't hold age against a person :-)
@@andy-wi5gc everyone is untitled to their own opinion for sure. There are many greats. We just happen to think sir Jonny was one of them 🙌🏼🏴
Manie can do all those things and more .... Oh, I member England won the World Cup once ..... or was that football ?
@@beammeup8458SA can't rely on Mannie from the tee 🤷🏼
Bore off mate....
"Our country is a corrupt crime infested shit hole nearing collapse, let's go and post about how great we are in the comments of every other nation's rugby videos until we feel better"
Pretty tragic lads.
Both….bit of an odd sarcastic comment to make considering England has won world cups in most sports, and South Africa….well, in fairness have at least had a go at some world cups in other sports 🤷♂️