Wilkinson 'way better' than 2003
Jonny Wilkinson 'way better' than 2003 vintage
Saturday, 24, Oct 2009 01:10
By Lewis Bazley.
World Cup winner Jonny Wilkinson believes he is now a better all-round player than when he delivered the Webb-Ellis Trophy to England in 2003.
Now plying his trade for Toulon in the French Top 14, the 30-year-old believes he has improved with age and his now stronger both physically and mentally.
"People ask me: 'Will you ever be like you were in 2003?' The answer is: 'I am way better now'," he told the Times newspaper.
Having spent his entire career with Newcastle, Wilkinson moved to the French side in the summer and has helped into the top half of the Top 14.
A likely member of Martin Johnson's squad for England's autumn internationals, Wilkinson said his years of experience - and added perspective having battled a series of injuries - have helped him to a new stage in his career.
"I am undoubtedly better. There is no way that the 2001 version would have been able to deal with the 2007 World Cup experience," he explained.
"I don't know how I would have dealt with it. I wouldn't have had the intelligence or the experience.
"I was suited to 2001 or 2003 because I was surrounded by people like Mike Catt, [Kyran] Bracken or [Matt] Dawson, Lawrence Dallaglio, Will Greenwood, Martin Johnson, pillars all around me.
"I was doing things because I was getting a load of help from them. But that person in 2007, or here in France? Not a chance. I am way better now because I understand what is going on.
"Back then it was like a headache trying to work out 100 things at once. It is almost like you are dissecting and composing, all the time."
He added: "Now I am processing it without too much effort."
Wilkinson is the only fit fly-half in the England elite squad after Toby Flood fell injured.