On this day: Jason Robinson makes his England debut
On the 22nd anniversary of his international debut, we take a look back at the career of England great Jason Robinson.
Dubbed Billy Whizz after a Beano comic speedster, Jason reached the highest level in both rugby league and rugby union, scoring a try in the Rugby World Cup final which saw England lift the Webb Ellis Cup in 2003.
He began his career at Hunslet, before joining Wigan Warriors in 1991. He earned 302 appearances for the league club before announcing his move to union days after the 2000 Super League Grand Final.
A METEORIC RISE
Robinson made his Sale Sharks debut in November 2000 and soon made a name for himself in the 15-man code. It was just months later that the then 26-year-old made his international debut on 17 February 2001, coming off the bench for Ben Cohen as England beat Italy 80-23 at Twickenham.
“Winning the World Cup and captaining England are both amazing memories, but the other is my first cap at Twickenham. Standing on the side, waiting to go onto the pitch. As a rugby league convert, I didn’t know how the crowd would take to me. But people were shouting ‘Get him on! Get him on!’ England fans were on my side, they were behind me, and I tried to live up to that, to get them out of their seats whenever I played.”
Just seven months after his switch to the Sharks, Jason earned a call up to the 2001 British & Irish Lions squad for their tour of Australia. He scored within three minutes of his first Test as a Lion with a brilliant solo effort.
In 2004, captaincy came calling for the England mainstay. Now an established international and a key figure of the team, he took on the role from injured Jonny Wilkinson for their autumn fixture against Canada, which they won 70-0.
“I didn’t say yes right away because I needed time to fully understand what it meant. I wanted to make sure I didn’t take the captaincy for taking its sake. Being the captain isn’t just about leading the team out, there’s a lot more to it on and off the pitch. It didn’t take me long to say yes though, I knew it was a huge privilege and an honour to take on that role.”
RETIREMENT & RETURN
In 2005 Jason announced his retirement from international rugby following the Lions tour of New Zealand but was persuaded to make a return by England head coach Brian Ashton ahead of the 2007 Six Nations.
He was then part of the squad that reached the 2007 Rugby World Cup final and was one of the four squad members in the team to have also played in the 2003 final (Wilkinson, Ben Kay and Phil Vickery also featured). They lost to South Africa 6-15 in the game that would be Robinson’s last as an England international.
Opportunity arose to end his international career on a high in December 2007 however, when he was selected to play for the Barbarians against the newly-crowned World Champions at Twickenham. When he left the pitch at 68 minutes, Robinson received a standing ovation from the Twickenham crowd – a show appreciation of a true England great at his curtain call.
