Martin Johnson (rugby union)

For other people named Martin Johnson, see Martin Johnson (disambiguation).

Martin Johnson

File:Martin johnson.jpg
Height	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Weight	18 st 10 lb (119 kg)
Rugby union career
Position(s) Template:Lock Senior career Years Team Apps (Points) 1989-2005 Leicester Tigers 307 () Correct as of 12 December 2007 International career Years Team Apps (Points) 1993-2003 1993,1997,2001 England British and Irish Lions 84 8 (10) (0) Correct as of 12 December 2007 Coaching career Years Team 2008-present England

Martin Osborne Johnson CBE (born 9 March 1970) is an English former rugby union footballer who represented and captained England and Leicester. He is mostly known for captaining England to victory in the World Cup in 2003. He became the new England team manager on 1 July 2008, replacing the previous manager Brian Ashton. He's regarded as one of the greatest locks to have ever played. He toured three times with the British and Irish Lions, becoming the only man to have captained them on two separate tours. He also led his club Leicester Tigers to back-to back Heineken Cup victories and won the league six times. Despite no coaching experience, he was appointed team manager of the national England Rugby Union side in April 2008.

Biography

Johnson was born in Solihull in the West Midlands, the second of three brothers — his younger brother Will plays back row forward. At the age of seven, his family moved to Market Harborough, Leicestershire, where Martin attended Ridgeway Primary School, Welland Park School and Robert Smyth School, . Johnson briefly played American football for the Leicester Panthers as a tight end or defensive end. In 1989 he was approached by former All Black Colin Meads to try out for the King Country side in New Zealand.

Johnson's trial run was successful and he played two seasons for King Country. In 1990 he was even selected for the New Zealand under-21 side which went on a tour of Australia playing a side that included another of the all-time great lock forwards, John Eales. However, in late 1990, Johnson returned to England because New Zealand girlfriend, and later wife, Kay, wanted to travel. He played for Leicester Tigers from 1989 to 2005.

Johnson had made his test debut against France in January 1993 under dramatic circumstances. He was due to play in another game when he was unexpectedly summoned to Twickenham to replace the injured Wade Dooley. With barely any proper preparation (he had a last-minute line-out session with his new teammates before the game), Johnson was thrown into the deep end. An early clash of heads with French prop Laurent Seigne momentarily left Johnson dazed, but he recovered and went on to play superbly as England won 16–15. He then went on to become part of the side that won the 1995 Grand Slam. He was also called up to the 1993 Lions tour as a replacement, playing twice.

In 1997 with the retirement of Dean Richards, Johnson was made club captain but only captained the side when Richards was not playing. In 1997 Leicester won the Pilkington Cup and reached the final of the Heineken Cup.

Returning to domestic rugby, Lawrence Dallaglio was appointed England captain by new England coach Clive Woodward. However, Johnson took the captaincy in 1999 after Dallaglio was caught in a honey trap by the News of the World. Under Johnson's leadership, England moved away from being a forward-dominated side and towards the 15-man rugby that Woodward wanted them to play. He was again asked to captain the Lions tour to Australia in 2001, becoming the only man to captain them twice. The tour was hugely successful financially; however, they lost 2-1 to a seasoned Australian side captained by John Eales and coached by Rod Macqueen.

At the Ireland-England rugby international held at Lansdowne Road in 2003, Johnson lead out England and lined up along the left-hand side of the pitch, being the side on which Ireland customarily line up. Johnson was informed that England were on Ireland's side of the pitch and that England should move to the right-hand side of the pitch. Johnson refused, despite numerous requests. The Irish team lined up between the England team and the left-hand try line, an area without red carpet, rather than lining up on the right-hand side of the pitch, an area with red carpet. As a result Irish President, Mary McAleese, had to walk across the uncovered grass to shake hands with the Irish team after greeting the English players. Although the incident embarrassed both the English and Irish Unions, Johnson never apologised.

Rugby World Cup 2003

The 2003 Grand Slam season was followed by a successful warm up tour to New Zealand and Australia. Among the highlights of a successful tour was the 6-man England scrum (with 2 back row forwards in the sin bin), which held off pressure from the All Blacks, when Johnson famously told his comrades in the scrum to "get down and shove". When asked about what was going through his head in the scrum he replied "my spine". In England's 25-14 victory over Australia, Johnson also performed at a monumental level, leading the former Australian captain, John Eales (who retired in 2001), to commend his display as 'among the best ever by a lock forward'. They took this into the 2003 World Cup, where they won crucial matches against South Africa, Wales and France, beating Australia in the final to win the cup with an extra time drop goal, with Wilkinson's kicking widely acknowledged as the driving force behind the English triumph.

Johnson retired from international rugby in January 2004 but continued to play for Leicester until 2005. With his captaincy (lasting 1997 to 2003) the Leicester Tigers won four Zurich Premiership titles and two Heineken Cups. He was awarded the CBE in the 2004 New Year honours and was second in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards behind Jonny Wilkinson. Johnson's testimonial match and farewell to competitive rugby, held at Twickenham on 4 June 2005, was one of the biggest rugby events of the year. It was historic in another way as the match marked the return of All Blacks legend Jonah Lomu after a recent kidney transplant. Johnson's XV defeated Lomu's 33–29. All proceeds from the match went to children's and cancer charities. In November 2006 it was rumoured the then England head rugby coach, Andy Robinson, was to be sacked and Johnson was one of many names speculated by the press as his replacement. The Rugby Football Union eventually selected Brian Ashton for the role. A fan of American football, Johnson is a supporter of the San Francisco 49ers and worked as a studio analyst for ITV at Super Bowl XLI on 4 February 2007.

Coaching career

In April 2008 Johnson was appointed England team manager, and England started the Autumn internationals by beating the Pacific Islands 39-13. That was followed with a loss to Australia, then a 42-6 defeat South Africa and then another loss this time 32-6 against New Zealand at Twickenham.

England had four wins under Martin Johnson going into 2009; in the Six Nations 2009 they beat Italy 36-11, France 34-10 and Scotland 26-12 but were defeated by Ireland by 14-13 and to Wales by 23-15. They did however come second in the 2009 Six Nations ahead of 2008 Champs Wales and scored the most points and tries in the tournament.

England are currently participating in the 2010 Six Nations tournament, have won their first two games against Wales and Italy respectively, and lost the third game against Ireland.

Honours

Leicester

• Premiership 1994-95, 1998-99, 1999-00, 2000-01, 2001-02
• Heineken Cup 2001, 2002

England

• Six Nations 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2003
• World Cup 2003

Lions

• South African tour 1997 as captain, winning 2-1.
• Australia tour 2001 as captain, losing 2-1.

External links

• Martin Johnson at IMDb
• Leicester Tigers profile
• Sporting Heroes
• Six of the best Martin Johnson performances
• Observer article on Martin Johnson's visit to the San Francisco 49ers
• Pictures of Martin Johnson and his team mates
• Fan page