Those repeated setbacks sent him into a spiral of agonising frustration and depression, which, combined with his ceaseless self-flagellation in the pursuit of perfection, threatened to see him walk away from the game when he still had much to offer. Only once he moved to the south of France with Toulon did Wilkinson appear to become more comfortable with himself and learn to keep something of a lid on his inner demons.
In he was voted European player of the season as Toulon won the Heineken Cup. A year later, within eight glorious days, he captained them to a second European Cup win and then to victory in the final of the French Top In the six games of the knockout stages of those two European campaigns Wilkinson had 30 attempts at goal and missed one. He was successful with—you guessed it—all 17 of them.
His masterclass in Toulon's semi-final win over Saracens was capped by this outrageous drop goal under extreme pressure from Owen Farrell. They came up with the total distance he had kicked the ball in his career, which they measured at kilometres—enough to put the ball into orbit. In the same video, Gillette or someone spending an internship there, with very little else to do also came up with the total distance travelled by Wilkinson during his career, which they clocked at , Indeed, England and Australia are the only sides in World Cup history to have played in two consecutive World Cup finals—England in and and the Aussies in and In , he knocked both penalties over in their defeat to South Africa.
Wilkinson has completed the full set of try, conversion, penalty and drop goal in three internationals. He did it against Wales in , scoring one try, five conversions, four penalties and a drop goal. Wilkinson was the heartbeat of an England side which won three Guinness Six Nations titles in four years in the early s, keeping the scoreboard ticking over while also supplying the bullets for a back-line packed with pace and power. When the ball arrived with the fly-half, the score locked at in the World Cup final against Australia with 26 seconds of extra-time remaining, a nation held its breath.
He was tipped for stardom from a young age and became professional in , joining Newcastle Falcons under the watchful eye of former England fly-half Rob Andrew. International recognition also came quickly.
Wilkinson was the second-youngest England debutant in history when he made his Championship bow — in what was then the Five Nations — against Ireland aged 18 years and days in April Wilkinson made four appearances in the Five Nations, scoring 60 points, after which Italy joined the competition to complete the Championship line-up as it stands today.
England dominated the early years of the new format, with Wilkinson an ever-present in the Championship between and Having scored 78 points across the five matches in , which saw England win their first Championship since , Wilkinson hit new heights the following year. The 89 points scored by Wilkinson in the Six Nations remains a competition record, while the 35 points he racked up against Italy at Twickenham — a try, nine conversions and four penalties — is still the most scored by an individual within a Championship match.
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