| Posted On: May 18, 2012 | Posted By: admin | Filed Under: Wilkofans |
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Time for a new layout! I want to say thank you to Fineside for letting me use the header images. I hope you like it I thought it was something different to pictures of Jonny playing I will be at the Amlin Final tonight with my Wilkofans T-shirt and Banner so look out for me. Think I’m sitting right at the back though but I’ll be around before and after the game! Good Luck TOULON!! Share on Facebook |
.| Posted On: May 17, 2012 | Posted By: Sonja | Filed Under: Playing, Toulon |
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Jonny Wilkinson will return to his spiritual rugby home for what could be a farewell visit. Although Wilkinson lines up at the Twickenham Stoop rather than English rugby headquarters across the road, where he regularly enhanced his superstar status, he is back on familiar territory in an all-French Amlin Challenge Cup final between Toulon and Biarritz. Wilkinson, 33 next week, called time on his 91-cap England career last December after scoring almost 2,000 Test points. And although the familiar white England shirt has now been replaced by Toulon’s black and red, he remains the pivotal figure of an expensively-assembled squad drawn from across planet rugby. “The guy is very influential in our team,” Toulon’s South African skipper Joe van Niekerk said. “He is one of those players who only comes round every 10 years, if that. To have him in our team is exceptional.” Wilkinson is relishing Friday night’s final that will see Toulon targeting a first major trophy for 20 years. They had a golden chance in the final of the same competition two years ago against Cardiff Blues at Marseille’s Stade Velodrome, but Toulon unravelled once Wilkinson went off injured. “It’s a joy to get back to England play, especially just across the road from headquarters,” he said. “I have always enjoyed playing at the Twickenham Stoop. It’s a great ground, and it is also the area where I grew up as a kid. “We have been going about our business game in, game out, and you never know where it is going to take you. This week, we have an opportunity to play in a final. “You have got to make the most of it, and that is certainly what I will be doing.” Wilkinson has adapted seamlessly to life in France, and he has lost none of his match-winning stardust judging by last month’s semi-final victory over Stade Francais. Wilkinson kicked 27 points during a gripping 32-29 success, landing a decisive drop-goal just 45 seconds from time. “It’s a different way of life in France, and that kind of transposes itself in the way the game is played. It has been a joy for me, but it is tough to put into words,” he added. “We know we have had to prepare well for this game. Biarritz are a team that has shown its calibre in Europe many, many times. “And what I have learnt from playing in France is that teams are able to turn a game in a second. “You might be down the other team’s end of the field and you think everything is quiet, then suddenly you are under your own posts and the game has changed. “You have got to be switched on the whole time. “The 2010 final was tough to take, watching it slip by during the last 10 minutes, but the great thing about rugby is that it gives you a chance to get on your feet and have another go.” While Wilkinson no longer needs to press home his international credentials, Toulon team-mate Steffon Armitage could provide further ammunition for his army of admirers bemused that he missed out on a place in England’s South Africa-bound tour squad. Ex-London Irish flanker Armitage’s consistent form this term – he was recently named French newspaper Midi Olympique’s player of the season – possibly made him the leading openside option available to red rose head coach Stuart Lancaster. “I moved to Toulon to get back my love of playing rugby,” Armitage said. “There is no pressure on me. I can just concentrate on my own game, and playing with some really great guys gives you the extra incentive. “Toulon are the type of club where if you are not playing well there are always others to come in, so you know you really have to work hard to keep your place. “I believe I am learning with every game. With so many great flankers at the club you have to perform week in and week out to keep your spot. “Ever since I arrived here I have been aware that Toulon have been waiting a long time for this, and being in the Amlin Challenge Cup final means the world to them. “It also means a lot to me, as I have never won anything either, so it is going to be a huge game. “Both clubs have so much to play for in the final. We have not won a cup for years, so we are really fired up for that, and we will be dangerous because we know we have to win something this season.” Share on Facebook |
| Posted On: May 15, 2012 | Posted By: Sonja | Filed Under: Playing, Toulon |
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As the finals weekend of the European club rugby season fast approaches, ERC have named a shortlist of five players who are in contention for the northern hemisphere’s most prestigious individual accolade, ERC European Player of the Year 2012. The two Irish clubs who contest Saturday’s Heineken Cup final at Twickenham Stadium, Leinster Rugby and Ulster Rugby, have players nominated for the honour in Jonathan Sexton (Leinster Rugby), Rob Kearney (Leinster Rugby), Stephen Ferris (Ulster Rugby), and Ruan Pienaar (Ulster Rugby) while the list is completed by RC Toulon’s talisman Jonny Wilkinson who will feature in Friday’s Amlin Challenge Cup final against Biarrtz Olypimque at the Twickenham Stoop. The search for this season’s winner began in earnest following the pool campaigns in both tournaments and the panel was presented with an initial longlist of 15 contenders – which included Ferris, Pienaar and Sexton – as a starting point for the selection process. Once the knockout stages got underway, the panel was able to consider players who had made major individual contributions in the quarter-finals and semi-finals of the Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup, and following stand-out performances for their respective clubs, Kearney and Wilkinson in particular, emerged as candidates. Taking into account form over the pool and knockout stages of both tournaments, the panel then decided on its shortlist of five players, one of whom will be announced next week as ERC European Player of the Year 2012. In addition to the decision of the panel, the 44 clubs in ERC’s two tournaments will also have the opportunity to vote along with supporters who can have their say via Twitter by sending their vote to @ercrugby using #ERCPlayer2012 and one of the following #tags #voteFerris, #voteKearney, #votePienaar, #voteSexton or #voteWilkinson FAns can also vote the official Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup Facebook pages www.facebook.com/heinekencup and www.facebook.com/amlinchallengecup In 2010, ERC launched the highly acclaimed ERC15 Awards, recognising the efforts of a number of outstanding contributors to the first 15 years of European club rugby competition. Two-time Heineken Cup winner, Ronan O’Gara, was the inaugural recipient of the ERC European Player Award, as the best player over the first 15 years of the two tournaments. ERC15 was the catalyst for ERC choosing to recognise individual excellence across both of the European club rugby tournaments annually and in the 2010/11 season, the ERC European Player of the Year award was established with the inaugural recipient being Leinster’s Sean O’Brien. Formguide • Stephen Ferris has been in outstanding form for Ulster Rugby in their thrilling run to a first Heineken Cup final in 13 years. • Rob Kearney pushed himself into contention with two magnificent displays for Leinster Rugby in the knockout wins over Cardiff Blues and ASM Clermont Auvergne. The full-back scored two tries against the Blues at the Aviva Stadium before dropping a superb goal and creating a try for Cian Healy against Clermont in Bordeaux. • Ruan Pienaar of Ulster Rugby has totalled 71 points in pool and knockout stages to date in a series of incredibly polished performances • Jonathan Sexton has been hugely impressive for Leinster Rugby with a personal haul of 88 points in this season’s Heineken Cup to date. • Jonny Wilkinson has been a key figure in Toulon’s powerful drive to a second Amlin Challenge Cup final with 17 points in the quarter-final success over last season’s champions, Harlequins, which was followed up by a match-winning haul of 27 points from seven penalties and two drop goals in the semi-final victory over Stade Francais Paris. Shortlist of candidates for ERC European Player of the Year 2012 Stephen Ferris Rob Kearney Ruan Pienaar Jonathan Sexton Jonny Wilkinson |
| Posted On: May 14, 2012 | Posted By: Sonja | Filed Under: Gillette, Playing |
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Skill, strength and speed are the natural areas of focus for athletes, but a knowledgeable coach will also ensure athletes train their mind. Whether at grass roots or elite level, mental concentration, composure and an ability to understand, accept and overcome nerves is an important skill to master. To help budding coaches understand how to train the mental skills of their athletes, England legend and 2003 World Cup winner Jonny Wilkinson, who has worked under the likes of Sir Clive Woodward, explains how he has dealt with cognitive pressure throughout a glittering career. Turn negative thoughts to positive A coach should create excitement, not fear. Do not allow your view to be negatively inspired. Make pressure a positive and make it work for you, rather than against you. Pressure creates nervousness, but it can also drive you and bring out the best. The rush of adrenaline which accompanies anxiety actually has the power to boost strength, concentration, application and speed of thought. It can also tear you apart. A coach should make sure an athlete perceives it in the right way. Simulate playing under pressure Performing well on the training field is easy. Take the same situation into a big match arena and suddenly everything feels harder. The key to performing under pressure is finding a way of linking the two together. My coaches, Steve Black and Dave Alred, have both encouraged me to practice situations in training which feel tougher and more challenging than any real-life game situation. Simulating pressure in training, like playing rugby on a smaller pitch, will help you to get better. During training I always try to put myself in as many situations as possible which get the heart racing and the mind working overtime. If you can evoke pressure in training, you will be better able to cope with it in a game. Remember your goal Think about what you want to achieve and inject this extra energy into each step of the process of getting you there. A quality coach will encourage an optimistic mentality. Thinking positively is a skill and a habit, just like kicking a ball, so practise it every day. Teach yourself to always think about the outcome you want, not the one you fear. Set yourself high standards Every repetition of every skill in every training session counts. The more you practise something, the easier it will be to execute it under pressure during a game. A good coach will not let a player be lazy and waste their time. A pass in rugby, for example, is either bang on target or not. Each pass you make goes into one of these two categories: acceptable or unacceptable. A good player will be taught to get better each day. Your match performances will always be an honest reflection of your ‘accounts’ in each of those two categories: acceptable or unacceptable. How hard have you trained? We are creatures of habit. If you throw 10 out of 20 good passes a day, then on the whole you will be a 50 per cent player. But you have control over this. Put yourself under pressure each day to get better at getting it right every time, think positively every time you picture something in your mind and you will become an every-time player, regardless of pressure. And everyone wants a player like that in their team, do they not? Gillette’s ‘Great Start’ campaign is celebrating coaches and inspiring the next generation by encouraging people to get involved coaching. Apply for a coaching grant at www.facebook.com/GilletteUK
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| Posted On: May 14, 2012 | Posted By: Sonja | Filed Under: Playing |
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By Jonny Wilkinson, England 2003 World Cup winner I HAVE been enormously fortunate to have been coached by some of the best coaches around. Here I let you know why they are so good… Steve Black Former Newcastle Falcons mentor, fitness conditioner, motivator and mental visualisation guru It is difficult to narrow down what Blackie’s strengths are because there are no weaknesses. His class is his ridiculous knowledge, his thirst for gaining more and his ability to apply it all to an athlete. Blackie treats everybody as an individual and has always found the best way to help me to get better, just by being myself. His flexibility means he has been able to train me to the maximum in any environment, under any time constraints and in any circumstances (normally involving me being injured and unable to use the majority of my body!). He knows sport and understands pressure having been there and done it himself. Everything he teaches is about staying specific to your goal and visualising yourself being great so that no negative energy is wasted elsewhere. He leads by example and has only ever asked one thing from me: that I am honest in saying that I really want it and that I turn up and give him all that I have got. I discuss my goals with Blackie numerous times every season and then I know that I don’t need to ask any more questions. I trust him that much and without him I simply wouldn’t be here. Blackie has kept me going, kept me training and kept me improving every day. Dave Alred MBE
England assistant coach, kicking coach, mind coach and psychological specialist I have worked with Dave since I was 16 years old. He revolutionised my understanding of kicking and changed the course of my career. I was an average kicker at best and he showed me that it was truly possible to take full control of your abilities. Dave always knows exactly what I’m talking about, even when I’m making no sense. This is because he possesses the proof. By this I mean he not only gives you the ‘how to’ but actually then goes and does it himself. I will never forget the first few times he kicked in front of me. I couldn’t believe we were using the same ball. Dave has been there too, kicking at the highest level in rugby league, union and American football. His principles cross to any sport and he is currently changing professional golfers’ lives too, just like he changed mine. Dave’s amazing ability to use metaphor and conjure up images to help explain his points is phenomenally powerful. He has given me technique and understanding which holds up under pressure and has been there for me without failure from day one. John Fletcher
Current England U18 coach and former Newcastle Falcons Academy Manager and Director of Rugby John Fletcher knows his stuff inside out and always gives you the details you need for the ‘how to’ part of coaching, but his skill is that he knows how to communicate it. He has knowledge and incredible people skills. I met John when he came to coach the academy up at Newcastle Falcons. I instantly recognised the respect that the young players had for him. All the players did, not just the ones playing in the team but also the ones who never made it. When he became head coach I experienced it myself. Fletch created a great team environment and guided his players brilliantly, but he also spent time with everyone. He listened, made the effort to understand each individual and made us all feel important. With very few people have I ever felt such a good balance between being coached and being given the freedom to express myself and my ideas. As a team, I don’t think we ever performed so consistently well as we did under Fletch’s reign. Sir Clive Woodward
The British Olympic Association’s Director of Elite Performance and England’s 2003 World Cup-winning coach Everybody knows that the Clive Woodward era of England rugby was a productive one, but it did not come about without a huge amount of effort and great leadership. One of Clive’s main strengths was his ability to combine learning lessons from defeat with creative decision making and forethought. He had a fantastic way of leading change. This often entailed taking big risks and some fairly serious tactical shifts but he took the pressure of those potential outcomes on himself and left us with nothing but the confidence and the motivation to go out there and believe in ourselves. Doing things differently to how they have largely been done before takes courage and conviction. Doing the same thing without deep understanding and awareness of what is required to make it work is actually irresponsible. Clive put in place an amazing set up which ensured he could take England rugby in a new direction. He never stopped thinking outside the box in innovative new ways, but at the same time he never lost sight of what rugby had taught him and the lessons we went through together. All of these abilities came together to enable Clive to lead a victorious World Cup campaign. Clive was at the head of the team, but also spent huge amounts of time with every one of us, ensuring we were happy, looked after and ready to be our bests. It was an approach which was to bring us all the reward we ever wanted. There are approximately 1.1m people involved in coaching in the UK and with the London Olympics just months away, Gillette has launched its ‘Great Start’ campaign, which aims to celebrate coaches and inspire the next generation. Gillette is awarding ‘Great Start’ grants in 2012 to help both existing and new coaches gain qualifications. Applications can be made via www.facebook.com/GilletteUK – just click on the ‘Coaching’ link. Share on Facebook |
| Posted On: May 12, 2012 | Posted By: Sonja | Filed Under: Playing, Toulon |
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Jonny Wilkinson kicked 19 points as Toulon confirmed third place with a 29-5 victory over relegated Lyon. Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe and Sebastien Tillous-Borde both scored tries for the visitors as they warmed up for the play-offs with a strong display. Share on Facebook |
| Posted On: May 12, 2012 | Posted By: Sonja | Filed Under: Fineside |
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Jonny Wilkinson @JonnyWilkinson Fineside Clothing @Fineside For your chance to win reply to Fineside Clothing on Twitter quoting #finesidecomp Share on Facebook |
| Posted On: May 5, 2012 | Posted By: Sonja | Filed Under: Playing, Toulon |
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Toulon confirmed their place in the Top 14 play-offs with a 25-22 victory over reigning champions and current frontrunners Toulouse at the Stade Felix-Mayol. Toulon were trailing 19-18 with 15 minutes remaining but former London Irish flanker Steffon Armitage, who is pushing for a place on England’s summer tour to South Africa, barged over and Jonny Wilkinson converted to seal the victory. Wilkinson had earlier kicked two penalties and converted Eifion Roberts’ try while Alexis Palisson also touched down as Toulon stayed in touch with Toulouse, for whom Lionel Beauxis landed five penalties and converted Vincent Clerc’s try. Jonny speaking in French after the game Share on Facebook |
| Posted On: April 28, 2012 | Posted By: Sonja | Filed Under: Playing, Toulon |
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Jonny Wilkinson admitted he couldn’t have faced his Toulon team mates had he missed with the last minute drop goal that sent his team into the Amlin Challenge Cup final at Twickenham Stoop on Friday, 18 May. The Toulon outside half kicked 27 points to book a trip ‘home’ to England and give Toulon a second shot in three seasons at winning a major piece of European silverware. “It was very tricky out there with the wind. It was disappointing as well because had I put a couple of the other kicks over then maybe we might found ourselves with a lead,” admitted Wilkinson “As it was they just kept getting back into the game, playing brilliantly and forced us to go right to the end. It could have gone either way. “But you stick your head down and just go for it. I missed a couple off the tee and I thought with the drop goal at the end that if I miss this I might not go back into the changing room afterwards. “I thought the guys deserved better than this after working so hard to get the penalties – I should have put a few more over. All you can do is keep fighting towards the end and keep trying to do the right thing. “I was trying to think clearly about the process, of where I was on the field. I was thinking about what I was trying to go and getting the right contact and visualising in my mind what needed to be done to try to make it more said and done deal. “You try to line the physical thing with what you put in your head before hand and thankfully that went well. “This place lives for rugby, there is no other way to . They adore the sport, the passion and the tradition that goes with it. It is as intense anywhere else I have ever seen at Twickenham and in England. The spirt here means you go to the end of what you have got – we are a team together.”
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| Posted On: April 27, 2012 | Posted By: Sonja | Filed Under: Playing, Toulon |
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Toulon fly-half Jonny Wilkinson slotted a 79th-minute drop goal to book his team a place in the Amlin Challenge Cup final after beating Stade Français 32-29 on Friday. The former England World Cup winner steered Toulon into the final for the second time in three seasons, after contributing all but five of his side’s points at the Stade Felix Mayol. An outstanding early Steffon Armitage try was the only other scoring effort from a Toulon player as Wilkinson kicked 27 points consisting of seven penalties and two drop-goals, the last of which was his fourth attempt to win the game with the scores level. The match swayed from side to side throughout, with visitors Stade 16-5 up at one stage in the first half through a converted try from Hugo Bonneval and nine points from fly-half Jules Plisson. The sides went into the interval with Stade Français leading 19-11 after two of Wilkinson’s penalties sandwiched a third from impressive youngster Plisson. Wilkinson’s boot pushed Toulon into the lead before the hour, but Morgan Turinui rounded off a sparkling move for the visitors soon after, and after an exchange of three-pointers between the two number tens the sides were locked together at 29-29 entering the final 10 minutes. A yellow card for Julien Arias left Stade Français with 14 men for the vital last period, and despite failing with his first three kickable efforts, Wilkinson nailed the winning 40-metre drop-goal with the clock ticking over to 79 minutes. Toulon now await the winners of the Biarritz v Brive semi-final played on Saturday Share on Facebook |
