JASON ROBINSON
BYE BYE BILLY WHIZZ
He’s been a legend in rugby union and rugby league, but now World Cup winner Jason Robinson is finally bowing out. Neil Squires salutes an England hero
IF THE SIX NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP ends up being down on voltage this year, it is because a spark of electricity is missing. The annual pageant of rugby will still warm the winter cockles on its rough-house rumble around some of Europe’s most intoxicating cities, but Jason Robinson has gone – and the sporting world is dimmed a little by his absence.
It falls to only a tiny few in sport to cast a spell over an audience of thousands, but that was what Robinson did every time he had the ball. Everywhere he went – from Wigan to Sale, from Paris to Rome and beyond – the pulse rate rose and the excitement welled as the little ball of fire exploded into his jitterbug dance routine, leaving mayhem in his wake. The key to the Billy Whizz act was his famous step, the zig-zag which defied physics. I once had the dubious pleasure of seeing rugby’s greatest magic trick up close in a coaching session given by Robinson.
It was the classic ‘now you see him, now you don’t’ moment. One instant, there he was in full view coming towards me, the next in a swivel of the hips he was out of the picture. The sheer distance he covered was astonishing. Dive full length and you would not have laid a hand on him. Or I didn’t, anyway. The only consolation, eating dirt as he disappeared into the distance, was that many better men had suffered the same fate.
The step has stopped now. He will make a cameo in his testimonial match at the end of the season, but at 33, he is content in the knowledge that his competitive days are done.
The Yorkshireman’s second Rugby World Cup final, at the Stade de France in October, marked his last competitive game – journey’s end on a kaleidoscopic road taking in 540 games in both codes. He was sad at the time, watching from the sidelines as the Webb Ellis trophy was torn from England’s tenacious grasp. But hindsight has lent the man who scored England’s try in the 2003 World Cup final victory a comforting perspective.
“It was disappointing we didn’t win it – gold is always better than silver – but I’ve had my fair share. I can’t grumble about finishing my career in a World Cup final,” said Robinson, who was forced off by a shoulder injury after 46 minutes.
Could England have become the first side to have successfully defended the World Cup if he had stayed on? No one will ever know, but they would certainly have possessed an extra attacking weapon as they tried to break down South Africa’s defence at the end.
Five weeks previously, Robinson had taken on the Springboks virtually single-handedly in the 36-0 whitewash, until he pulled up lame. He was operating on reduced power throughout the knockout stages, but you would hardly have known. “After tearing my hamstring against South Africa in the pool game, I didn’t know whether I would get the chance again. So to have played in three more games and to have passed 50 caps on the way was a fair effort.” As he left the field that night in Paris, the tournament’s leading try scorer, Bryan Habana, made a point of touching Robinson’s hand as a mark of respect. One great entertainer was leaving the stage clear for another. “It has been an amazing 16 years,” he says. “I achieved far more than I imagined I would.”
England move on, and so does Robinson after 51 caps and 30 tries for his country. For England, the renewal process began in the final, which they ended with young talents Dan Hipkiss and Toby Flood in the midfield and Mathew Tait at full-back. Throw in the likes of James Haskell, Danny Cipriani and Ryan Lamb – none of whom were involved in France – and Robinson sees a bright future for England: “The effort that was put in over those weeks was fantastic. There aren’t many times when you can lose a final and come back with so much credibility.”
He will be watching the side’s development with interest, but for Robinson, a father of six, family is priority now.
His dream is the antithesis of his own inner-city upbringing where he was abandoned by his Jamaican father and brought up single-handedly by his Scottish mother, a cleaner, in Leeds. He has known the hard times.
And there will be no U-turn in this retirement as there was when he decided to quit international rugby in 2005 to concentrate on captaining Sale, a decision which helped bring the Premiership title to the north-west for the first time two years ago. He hasn’t the time to spare. He and his wife Amanda home educate their children to ensure they are raised in a Christian environment. “For Amanda and me, it has been a case of just getting used to each other again. I’ve spent so many years making an appearance now and again, that to be at home almost full time takes some getting used to for us both.” he says. “My wife does most of the teaching, but with five at home there are always bottles to fill, nappies to change and food to prepare. I do seem to find I am busier now than when I played,” he said. There is no pressing need for Robinson to seek a better-rewarded post. Humble as he has remained, he is unlikely to have to return to stripping paint for a cleaning company in Leeds, the job he used to do before signing his first rugby league contract with Wigan. He was one of the highest paid players in league and union, and this year’s testimonial will put another few pounds in the bank. The proceeds will also benefit the rugby charity, The Wooden Spoon, and The Door of Hope orphanage project in South Africa, which he visited as England captain on last summer’s tour.
When work does intrude at some point in the future, he can afford to be choosy. Preaching? “It’s not me.” Coaching? “Certainly not. Too stressful – although I might get involved with some kids’ stuff.” The height of his ambitions at present is to buy a farm and live “like The Waltons”. It will be somewhere in the north-west, rather than back in the county of his birth. “I’ll always be a Yorkshireman and a proud one, but my wife is a Lancastrian and I have spent the last 17 years here.”
He doesn’t plan on milking cows, but would like a hobby farm with a few animals where the children can grow up with fresh air and open space. “For 16 years my focus switched from game to game every week,” says Robinson. “Now it has switched to family life and the children’s schooling.”
Life on the ranch might not match the glamour of treading the boards on the Six Nations stage, but for Robinson it will do very nicely, thank you. He has earned his time out at pasture.
RBS SIX NATIONS’
Championship fixtures 2008 (all kick-offs, UK time)
02 Feb
Ireland v Italy
Croke Park, Dublin, 2pm
England v Wales
Twickenham, London, 4.30pm
03 Feb
Scotland v France
Murrayfield, Edinburgh, 3pm
09 Feb
Wales v Scotland
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, 2pm
France v Ireland
Stade de France, Paris, 4pm
10 Feb
Italy v England
Stadio Flaminio, Rome, 2.30pm
23 Feb
Wales v Italy
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, 3pm
Ireland v Scotland
Croke Park, Dublin, 5pm
France v England
Stade de France, Paris 8pm
8 Mar
Ireland v Wales
Croke Park, Dublin, 1.15pm
Scotland v England
Murrayfield, Edinburgh, 3.15pm
9 Mar
France v Italy
Stade de France, Paris, 3pm
15 Mar
Italy v Scotland
Stadio Flaminio, Rome, 1pm
England v Ireland
Twickenham, London 3pm
Wales v France
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff 5pm
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