Jonny WIlkinson strikes a familiar pose
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The Guardian's Robert Kitson looks at the legacy Jonny Wilkinson will leave behind following his retirement from international rugby.
"On the eve of England's 2011 World Cup quarter-final against France in Auckland, Jonny Wilkinson received a fax from his long-time friend and guru, Steve Black. "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did but people will never forget how you made them feel. Make us all feel wonderful. We'll never forget." In Jonny's case, Black was employing a little poetic licence. There is not a single English rugby follower who will ever forget Wilkinson's World Cup-clinching drop goal in 2003, nor the utter delirium it prompted.
Finally, it is all over. Wilko and out. If anyone deserves a restful Test retirement it is Jonny. He did not so much lay down his body for his country as donate it entirely to Twickenham, limb by limb, joint by joint and organ by organ. Even had he not broken every points-scoring record known to man he would still have gone down in history, along with Lewis Moody, as the ultimate English patient. Many will be quietly relieved he has now walked away, rather than be carted off to the knacker's yard.”
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