Where are they now: A look at England's 2003 Rugby World Cup winners
When asked to name members of England’s 2003 World Cup-winning squad, the likes of drop-kick hero Jonny Wilkinson and inspirational captain Martin Johnson come immediately to mind. But the contributions of the whole squad in the last-gasp 20-17 Sydney success against Australia can often be overlooked. To mark replacement Iain Balshaw’s 41st birthday, here is a look at every member of England’s squad and what they have been up to since.
Josh Lewsey
The full-back who made that thumping tackle on Mat Rogers became head of rugby at the Welsh Rugby Union in September 2015 – a position he held for just over two years. British and Irish Lion Lewsey retired in 2011 after stints with Bristol and Wasps. The 37-year-old climbed Mount Everest in 2010.
Jason Robinson
The rugby league convert is best remembered for his try in the World Cup final, but is now back in the league game as joint operations manager for the Jamaica national team after they secured a place in the 2021 Rugby League World Cup. Robinson retired after the 2007 World Cup final before taking on a coaching stint at former club Sale, then making a one-season comeback with National League Two side Fylde in 2010.
Mike Tindall
The last of the World Cup final squad to retire, Tindall won 75 caps and spent eight years at Bath followed by nine at Gloucester. Tindall – who married Zara Phillips, the Queen’s eldest granddaughter, in 2011 – has become a leading celebrity ambassador for charitable causes and is the principal patron of Rugby for Heroes.
Will Greenwood
The former Lions, Leicester and Harlequins centre is a rugby union pundit for Sky Sports and has worked as a columnist for the Daily Telegraph. Greenwood was a key figure in England’s World Cup triumph, scoring five tries on the road to the final.
Ben Cohen
England’s joint second-highest try-scorer – level with Greenwood – is chairman of The Ben Cohen Stand Up Foundation, launched to help combat bullying in the UK. He has also made a number of reality TV appearances. He featured on Strictly Come Dancing in 2013 and won Channel 4’s The Jump in 2016. Cohen retired in 2011 after two years at Sale Sharks that followed stints with Northampton Saints and Brive.
Jonny Wilkinson
Wilkinson, England’s record points scorer, retired after securing a Heineken Cup-French Top 14 double with Toulon in 2014. England’s World Cup talisman was plagued by injuries after dropping the winning goal against Australia in 2003 but shrugged it off to find success on the Mediterranean. The 40-year-old joined Toulon’s back-room staff as kicking and skills coach after retirement and is now a regular TV pundit.
Matt Dawson
Matt Dawson has been a team captain on A Question of Sport since 2004 and works as a pundit for the BBC. He also finished second to former England cricketer Mark Ramprakash on Strictly in 2006. The former Northampton and Wasps scrum-half retired in 2006, with 77 England caps and six Test appearances for the British Lions.
Trevor Woodman
Loosehead prop Woodman was forced to retire prematurely at the age of 29 due to back injuries. The 43-year-old is now forwards coach at Gloucester, where he plied his trade between 1996 and 2004.
Steve Thompson
Thompson has been based in Dubai since final retirement in 2011, working as an ambassador for the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation. The Northampton hooker initially retired due to neck trouble in 2007, only to reverse the decision and sign for Brive in France. Thompson continued his international career until the 2011 World Cup, winning 73 caps.
Phil Vickery
Combative tighthead prop Vickery runs successful sportswear firm Raging Bull; owing to his playing-days nickname. Neck injuries forced Vickery to retire in 2010 after stints with Gloucester and Wasps before he moved into coaching with a stint at Worcester. The 44-year-old won Celebrity Masterchef in 2011.
Martin Johnson
England’s talismanic captain moved into an underwhelming stint as national coach, culminating in a lacklustre campaign littered with off-field issues in New Zealand in 2011. The Leicester Tigers stalwart coached England from 2008 to 2011 but failed to transfer his feared on-field reputation into management. Johnson has not returned to coaching since, instead concentrating on media work and public speaking.
Ben Kay
The Leicester second row got away with bungling a sure-fire try by dropping the ball over the whitewash in the 2003 final against Australia. Kay has worked as a TV rugby analyst since retirement.
Richard Hill
England’s silent assassin blindside flanker “worked in the shadows” to help Clive Woodward’s side through a tough semi-final against France, according to opponent Serge Betsen. After retiring in 2008, Hill took up a coaching role in the Saracens Academy that he held for five years. Hill was added to Eddie Jones’ backroom staff in 2016 as England team manager.
Neil Back
The potent openside flanker retired in 2005 after 15 years with Leicester Tigers, moving immediately into coaching. Back has enjoyed coaching stints with Leeds Carnegie and Rugby Lions, with his last full-time role at Edinburgh ending in 2013.
Lawrence Dallaglio
The former Wasps number eight heads up the Lawrence Dallaglio Foundation, helping young people find opportunities through sport and also raising funds for teenage cancer trusts. The 47-year-old is also a commentator and pundit on ITV.
REPLACEMENTS:
Dorian West
Former Leicester Tigers hooker West retired straight after the 2003 World Cup, making an immediate switch to coaching with England Under-21s. The 52-year-old was forwards coach at Northampton Saints from 2007, helping the Franklin’s Gardens side claim their first Aviva Premiership title, and now has the same role at Sale.
Jason Leonard
The versatile scrummager won 114 England caps across 14 years, retiring the year after England’s World Cup triumph. Leonard founded the Atlas Foundation in 2014, which helps deprived children work towards a better future through rugby communities and initiatives.
Martin Corry
Corry has worked in sales and motivational speaking since his 2009 retirement from rugby. The Leicester Tigers number eight went on to captain England between 2005 and 2007 following the World Cup triumph, also featuring in the squad that reached the 2007 final.
Lewis Moody
Now running his own coaching company, Moody retired in 2012 after two years at Bath that followed 14 years with Leicester. The gritty flanker has spoken out about life with ulcerative colitis, to raise awareness of the condition. He also founded the Lewis Moody foundation.
“That has held them back in the performance because it was not where would have expected, certainly against France."@LewisMoody7 tells @heagneyl he thinks the Saracens elephant might still be in the room #ENGvIRE ?????????https://t.co/3CDkTpFoSI
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 23, 2020
Kyran Bracken
The former Saracens and Bristol scrum-half became the director of a construction company after retirement. Bracken quit the game in 2006 and then won the celebrity talent competition Dancing On Ice a year later.
Mike Catt
South Africa-born Catt has become a leading coach. He was England’s attack coach under Stuart Lancaster and is currently Ireland’s assistant coach under Andy Farrell. Catt retired in 2010 after stints with Bath and London Irish, and his last England match was the 2007 World Cup final defeat to South Africa.
Iain Balshaw
Balshaw was the penultimate member of the World Cup-winning line-up to retire, with knee injuries forcing him to hang up his boots just days before Tindall. The 41-year-old spent the final five years of his career at Biarritz after spells with Gloucester, Leeds and Bath.
COACH:
Clive Woodward
Woodward spent an unsuccessful year’s transition into football as technical director at Southampton, before switching to athletics in 2006. The former Harlequin and Leicester Tiger held the role of director of sport for Team GB for six years, culminating with London 2012. Now Woodward works as a columnist for the Daily Mail and a TV pundit.
– Press Association
Comments on RugbyPass
What about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to commentsThis is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?
35 Go to commentsWow, didn’t realise there was such apathy to URC in SA, or by Champions Cup teams. Just read Nick’s article on Crusaders, are Sharks a similar circumstance? I think SA rugby has been far more balanced than NZs, no?
2 Go to commentsBut here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.
15 Go to commentsIt could be coincidental or prescient that the All Blacks most dominant period under Steve Hansen was when the Crusaders had their least successful period under Todd Blackadder and then the positions reversed when Razor took over the Crusaders.
15 Go to commentsDefinitely sound read everybodyexpects immediate results these days, I don't think any team would travel well at all having lost three of the most important game changers in the game,compiled with the massive injury list they are now carrying, good to see a different more in depth perspective of a coaches history.
3 Go to commentsSinckler is a really big loss for English rugby.
1 Go to commentsThanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause
15 Go to commentsNo way. If you are trying to picture New Zealand rugby with an All Blacks mindset, there have been two factors instrumental to the decline of NZ rugby to date. Those are the horror that the Blues have become and, probably more so, the fixture that the Crusaders became. I don’t think it was healthy to have one team so dominant for so long, both for lack of proper representation of players from outside that environment and on the over reliance on players from within it. If you are another international side, like Ireland for example, sure. You can copy paste something succinct from one level to the next and experience a huge increase in standards, but ultimately you will not be maximizing it, which is what you need to perform to the level the ABs do. Added to that is the apathy that develops in the whole game as a result of one sides dominance. NZ, Super, and Championship rugby should all experience a boom as a result of things balancing out. That said, there is a lot of bad news happening in NZ rugby recently, and I’m not sure the game can be handled well enough here to postpone the always-there feeling of inevitable decline of rugby.
15 Go to commentsNo SA supporter miss Super Rugby - a product that is experiencing significant head wind in ANZ - the competition from rival codes are intense, match attendance figures are at a historical low and the negativity of commentators such as Kirwan and Wilson have accelerated the downward spiral in NZ. After the next RWC in 2027 sponsors will follow Qantas and start leaving in droves.
2 Go to commentsLike others, I am not seeing the connection between this edition of the Crusaders and the All Blacks future prospects under Razor. I think the analysis of the Crusaders attack recently is helpful because Razor and his coaching team used to be able to slot new guys in to their systems and see them succeed. Several of Razor’s coaches are still there so it would be surprising if the current attack and set piece has been overhauled to a great extent - but based on that analysis, it may have been. Whether it is too many new guys due to injuries or retirement or a failure of current Crusaders systems is the main question to be answered imo. It doesn’t seem relevant for the ABs.
15 Go to commentsharry potter is set in stone. he creates stability and finishes well. exactly what schmidt likes. he’s the ben smith of australian rugby. i think it could quite easily be potter toole and kellaway for the foreseeable future.
5 Go to commentsThis is short sighted from Clayton if you ask me, smacks of too much preseason planning and no adaptability. What if DMac is out for a must win match, are they still only going to bring their best first five and playmaker on late in the game? Trusting the game to someone who wasn’t even part of planning (they would have had Trask pinned in as Jacomb preseason). Perhaps if the Crusaders were better they would not have done this, but either way imo you take this opportunity to play a guy you might need starting in a final rather than having their 12th game getting comfortable coming off the bench.
1 Go to commentsThanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.
21 Go to commentsWhat a load of bollocks. The author has forgotten to mention the fact that the Crusaders have a huge injury toll with top world class players out. Not to mention the fact that they are obviously in a transition period. No this will not spark a slow death for NZ rugby, but it does mean there will be a new Super Rugby champion. Anyone who knows anything about NZ rugby knows that there is some serious talent here, it just isn’t all at the Crusaders.
15 Go to commentsI wouldn’t spend the time on Nawaqanitawase! No point in having him filling in a jersey when he’s committed to leave Union. Give the jersey to a young prospect who will be here in the future.
5 Go to commentsIt was a pleasure to watch those guys playing with such confidence. That trio can all be infuriating for different reasons and I can see why Jones might have decided against them. No way to justify leaving Ikitau out though. Jorgensen and him were both scheduled to return at the same time. Only one of them plays for Randwick and has a dad who is great mates with the national coach though.
53 Go to commentsBrayden Iose and Peter Lakai are very exciting Super Rugby players but are too short and too light to ever be a Test 8 vs South Africa, France, Ireland, and England, Lakai could potentially be a Test player at 7 if he is allowed to focus on 7 for Hurricanes.
7 Go to commentsPencils “Thomas du Toit” into possible 2027 Bok squad.
1 Go to commentsDon’t see why Harrison makes the bench. Jones can play at 10 if needed, and there is a good case for starting her there to begin with if testing combinations. That would leave room for Sing on the bench
1 Go to comments