World Cup winner Wilkinson on what England must do to emulate class of 2003
World Cup winner Jonny Wilkinson believes England were “inspired” in their stunning display against New Zealand to set up another tilt at global glory. Sixteen years after Wilkinson’s dramatic drop-goal secured England’s first World Cup triumph, the class of 2019 will emulate that achievement if they beat South Africa on Saturday.
On the back of ending New Zealand’s 12-year unbeaten World Cup record, England are firm favourites to lift the trophy in Yokohama. “The difference between the two teams in the first five minutes was that it seemed the England team was inspired by an excitement about the unknown,” said Wilkinson, speaking on behalf of Land Rover, official worldwide partner of Rugby World Cup 2019.
“And I think New Zealand, always being the favourites, were a little bit threatened by the unknown. It [the final] is about going out and starting again. It’s a one-week journey, not the end of a three-month journey. It’s the start of a one-week journey, and you just happen to have an amazing amount of information in your back pack which has come from all these games.
“But if you start thinking this is the end of a long journey, it just gets slower and slower. That game (New Zealand) looked for me like a one-off. This game also has to be a one-off. And I think the coaches are great at creating an environment where the players feel fresh, renewed, still connected to their learnings, but not just weighed down by them.
“Every player dominated his area of the game in terms of what he is supposed to do and you get a machine that looks very well oiled. It was inspired.”
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South Africa showed in their semi-final win over Wales how effective they can be, though, and Wilkinson readily acknowledges their threat. “They are a very smothering team, they really get around you and make you think the pitch is tiny,” he added. “They make you feel like there are 20 of them.
“And they are enormously explosive, which means that very, very small moments can turn into big moments. A little dropped ball here, you get caught behind the gain-line, a big hit, and all of a sudden, within two seconds they have piled over the ruck, got the ball and they are 50-60 metres downfield.
“And they can dominate a momentum change like that. It’s important England manage those moments, but at the same time you don’t want to get into an arm-wrestle with these guys like Wales did. It’s very difficult when you are in a tight game to branch out and start getting into a wider game. When you are in a wider game, you can always bring it in.
'I go into schools a lot and those kids need to be able to look up and identify with it. Rugby union has sort of a middle class (appeal)'
– @LandRoverRugby ambassador @Jason15Robinson on @EnglandRugby, @rugbyworldcup and finding the next generationhttps://t.co/b8pYYQF1er— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 12, 2019
“When you are in and stuck in and think about trying to get out, it’s a difficult shift, and when you go there it can often be dangerous because you end up making big mistakes. They need to have a balance and variety about their game, and need to maintain their discipline hugely because there is a goal-kicker in their team (Handre Pollard) who punishes.”
England required extra time to beat Australia and win the 2003 World Cup, and while Wilkinson is reluctant to make comparisons between then and now, he knows from first hand experience what such a huge week is all about. “The players all have huge goals and ambitions about winning and getting close to the opportunity to achieve that,” he said.
“All I can say from my experience is that when you get to the end, you would swap it in a heartbeat to go back into the middle of the performance that led to it. Performance is all that matters, and I think that is the key, bringing you back to that the whole time.”
– Press Association
WATCH: Billy Vunipola meets the media ahead of England’s World Cup final against South Africa
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments