Jason Robinson (rugby)
| Height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Weight | 12 st 11 lb (81 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Jason Thorpe Robinson OBE (born 30 July 1974 in Leeds) is a former English international rugby union player and former international rugby league player. He played wing or fullback. In total he won fifty-one Rugby Union international test caps for England, and in rugby league he won twelve caps for Great Britain and seven for England. Throughout his career Robinson was noted for his blistering acceleration; he is often regarded as the best one-on-one attacker the game has ever seen by using his ability to beat players with astounding agility, blinding acceleration and pure pace.
Rugby league
He started his rugby league career in 1991 at Hunslet, a club that plays in South Leeds. Despite being offered a contract by Leeds, he stuck by his side, as it would have meant leaving at an inconvenient time. He was later rewarded by a contract with Wigan who dominated British rugby league.
In 1996, rugby union had gone open, allowing professional players for the first time, and rugby league went from a winter sport to a summer sport, so a number of league players chose to play part of a season for a rugby union club. Robinson agreed to play for Bath. After further contract negotiations with Wigan broke down, Robinson chose to leave rugby league for rugby union permanently.
Rugby union
He made his debut for rugby union team Sale Sharks against Coventry in November 2000. In the 2005/6 season he became the first person to have lifted both the Guinness Premiership and the Super League trophies.[citation needed]
National team
Robinson made his England debut as a substitute against Italy in February 2001, having played in the A match against Wales at Wrexham a fortnight earlier. In doing so he was only the second man ever to play Rugby Union for England after having first played Rugby League for Great Britain (the first having been Barrie-Jon Mather in 1999). He was immediately chosen for the 2001 Lions tour to Australia and was one of the outstanding players in the side that won the first Test in Brisbane 29-13. In that game he sidestepped past Australian fullback Chris Latham. He went on to score another try in the final Test.
He has scored 19 tries in 33 international matches, including a memorable dash to touch down in the 2003 World Cup final against Australia. He played in all seven of England’s World Cup games in 2003.
In the 2007 Rugby World Cup Jason Robinson remained one of the few consistent players in the pool stage and despite getting a hamstring injury in England's disappointing pool clash against South Africa came back to play in an unexpected victory over Australia. Robinson continued this form in the semi-final against hosts France where he was given the honour of leading his side out to earn his 50th cap. England won the match 14-9 to earn themselves an unlikely Final place and a chance for Robinson to bow out of the game on the grandest stage of all. Unfortunately he suffered an injury and was substituted after 46 minutes with England eventually losing 6-15 to South Africa. He had announced his retirement before the world cup.
Captaincy
After Martin Johnson's international retirement in 2003, Jonny Wilkinson was initially appointed captain. However, Wilkinson was injured for the 2003 autumn internationals and Robinson was appointed captain. He was the 118th captain of England, the first mixed-race player and the first former rugby league player to captain England. In his first appearance as captain, he scored a hat-trick of tries in a 70-0 wipeout of Canada.
In the 2004 6-Nations, he scored three tries playing as a centre in the opening match against Italy and was named Man of the Match. Robinson chose to opt out of the 2004 summer tour to recharge his batteries.
The choice of Robinson as captain came in for some criticism after leading England's poor 2005 Six Nations campaign, in which they lost more games than they won for the first time since 1983. Many said that as a fullback he was too far away from the action to be captain,[citation needed] despite the fact that many fullbacks, such as Gavin Hastings, have been successful captains.
The Lions
Robinson was again called up to the Lions' 2005 tour of New Zealand. He was excused from travelling with the bulk of the touring party in order to spend time with his wife, who was expecting the couple's fourth child in August. Throughout his career, he normally brought his wife and children along when he went on a tour, but her pregnancy made this impossible for the 2005 tour. He joined the team on 7 June, well in advance of the first New Zealand test on 25 June.
Retirement
On 24 September, 2005, Robinson announced his retirement from international rugby union, stating that he wished to spend more time with his family. [1] In the 2005-2006 season, Robinson led his club Sale Sharks to their first ever Premiership title. But he came back for England to help them try to win the Webb Ellis trophy for the second time in a row
Return
Robinson returned to the England set-up for the 2007 Six Nations tournament, following the decision of new Head Coach Brian Ashton to recall him to provide the leadership and winning quality the team had lacked in recent months, ending a 15 month absence from the international scene.[2] He scored two tries on his return in England's opening victory over Scotland. He also scored another try against the Italians the following week.
On 2 April, 2007, Robinson announced he would retire from playing club rugby at the end of the 2006/07 season. He also announced he would participate, if required, in England's summer friendlies and the 2007 Rugby World Cup, before retiring completely from the sport. His last game for Sale Sharks came at home to Bath on Friday the 13th April. Robinson said, “I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at Sale Sharks but the time has come to move on to other things. I want my last game for Sale Sharks to be a home game (v Bath) and want to be able to say a big thank you to the supporters of this great club.”
On 13 April 2007, Robinson ended his club career with a match-winning try 6 seconds from time as Sale edged past Bath in the Guinness Premiership. In the last play of the game, he received the ball 30 metres out and couldn't be stopped. He was then given the opportunity to convert the try, only to miss by a matter of inches past the left post.
On 14 September 2007, Robinson left the field to a standing ovation during England's defeat by South Africa, with a hamstring injury. This kept him out of England's remaining two group games, but he resumed full training in time to be available to play in the knock-out stages. In the quarter final against Australia, Robinson returned to the side as full back and played his part in a tense 12-10 victory over the wallabies. In the Semi-Final win against France, his 50th cap, he was given the honour of leading out the England team. Robinson's final game for England came in the 2007 World Cup Final loss to South Africa, when he was forced to leave the field during the second half, due to an injury.
Robinson was selected to play for the Barbarians at Twickenham on the 1st December 2007, Robinson showed many of his trademark lightning runs and received a standing ovation as he left the field for the last time in the 68th minute of the match.
Personal details
He is nicknamed 'Billy Whizz' after a character in the British comic The Beano, who is extremely fast. He is a recovering alcoholic who became a born-again Christian partly due to the influence of ex-Wigan Warriors team-mate Va'aiga Tuigamala[3].
Already a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2008 New Year Honours.
After the 2003 Rugby World Cup, Robinson wrote an autobiography entitled Finding My Feet: My Autobiography published by Coronet Books. In it, he wrote about how he overcame issues from his childhood and bouts of drinking when he found success as a rugby league star.
See also
References