Jonny Wilkinson reaches the ripe old age of 40 next month and he is still kicking goals — only this time in the snow.
England’s most iconic rugby player has been flown to the ski resort of La Plagne, 2,000m up in the Alps for a commercial engagement.
Two teams of French snow-rugby players are assembled to play, meet Wilkinson and see the Webb Ellis Cup he lifted in Sydney 16 years ago.
Jonny Wilkinson strikes a rugby ball in the ski-resort of La Plagne, 2,000m up in the Alps
Two teams of French snow-rugby players are assembled to play and Wilkinson also takes part
With the World Cup five months away Wilkinson is in demand. He always has been. As a Land Rover ambassador he is promoting a campaign — but he also wants to join in the match, so he brought his boots.
Joyously flicking passes out the back of each hand, conversing with his team-mates in both French and English, and posing for every picture, Wilkinson beams throughout.
When setting up the shot they all want, of an icy drop-goal, he is meticulous as ever. Wilkinson practises planting his standing foot. A couple of left leg swings before the muscle memory — literally — kicks in. Drop, swoop, instep to the bottom of the ball, over the posts.
As he puts it, this is Wilkinson ‘bathing’ in his art.
‘I probably would never choose to kick off ice!’ he smiles. ‘But it’s nice to take your passion wherever you want. I can kick a ball and stand there for 10 minutes and just bathe in it,’ Wilkinson says with all the introspection he has become known for.
‘It’s that beautiful a thing to do. My pathway to expressing my being.
‘It used to be “I’ve got to get it over,” now I couldn’t give a toss. I kick a ball as that connection between me and life is in that action.’
Wilkinson struck the decisive points that saw England win the 2003 Rugby World Cup
However, after the celebrations, Wilkinson now admits he struggled to move on mentally
Back in 2003, as the hero of England’s greatest triumph, he struggled to move on. At 40 and with the benefit of experience, life is ‘beautiful’ now — but back then, wrestling with his mental health despite all the glories, it was anything but.
Answering a question about Owen Farrell’s workload of leading, play-making and goal-kicking, Wilkinson reveals the angst of his own time with England.
‘If you see yourself as someone who has to get everything right —which I did for a long time — and have to make sure everyone is happy around you, you see a challenge,’ he says. ‘There’s a ridiculous amount of pressure.
‘It’s the space you get into where you think you know everything.
‘I walked off after the 2003 World Cup thinking I knew how it works and suddenly found myself hating rugby, thinking, “Everyone is against me, there’s so much pressure”. Owen is willing to work on himself, which means he can go out there and be his best.
‘Most people would say, “Jeez, he’s got to manage the captaincy”. When do you ever manage captaincy? When you ask a seven-year-old what they want to be they’ll say captain of England.
‘They don’t say, “I wouldn’t mind being captain so I can just get through it”.
‘Owen wants to be the goal-kicker because he loves it, not because he needs the pressure. It’s the same with me kicking balls here. I love kicking balls.’
Wilkinson exclusively spoke to Sportsmail's Will Kelleher and opened up on his mental issues
Nearly 40 and with the benefit of experience, Wilkinson admits life is 'beautiful' after he retired
But he never loved what came with it — it exacerbated his mental state. Wilkinson is a private man. He is married now and has recently welcomed a child into the world, but
