Martin Johnson (rugby union)

Martin Johnson

Martin Johnson playing for Leicester
Full name	Martin Osborne Johnson
Date of birth	(1970-03-09) 9 March 1970
Place of birth	Solihull, West Midlands, England
Height	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Weight	18 st 9 lb (119 kg)
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position	Lock
Professional / senior clubs
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
1989–2006 1992	Leicester Tigers Barbarians[1]	362 1	(90) (0)
correct as of 7 September 2011.
National team(s)
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
1990 1993–2003 1993, 1997, 2001	New Zeal. U21 England British and Irish Lions	1 84 8	(0) (10) (0)
correct as of 12 December 2007.
Coaching career
Years	Club / team
2008–2011	England
Rugby union career

Martin Osborne Johnson CBE (born 9 March 1970) is an English former rugby union player 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,^[2] replacing the previous manager Brian Ashton. He is regarded as one of the greatest locks to have ever played.^[3] 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 consecutive 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, but left the post in November 2011.

Early life

Johnson was born in Shirley, Solihull and lived on Solihull Road where he attended Blossomfield infant school in the West Midlands, the second of three brothers – his younger brother Will is a former 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.

Early career

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.^[4]

Club career

Martin Johnson and Graham Rowntree.

In late 1990, Johnson returned to England because his New Zealand girlfriend, and later wife, Kay, wanted to travel. He played for Leicester Tigers from 1989 to 2005.

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.

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.^[5][6]

International career

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 in two tests. 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 News of the World sting operation. 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.

In 2002 he was the third England captain after John Pullin and Will Carling to win Australia, South Africa and New Zealand after beating the All Blacks 31–28.

Lions Tour 1997

Johnson was selected to captain the 1997 British Lions tour of South Africa. The Lions convincingly won the first test at Newlands 25–16 with Neil Jenkins kicking five penalties and Matt Dawson and Alan Tait scoring tries. Despite scoring three tries in the second test at Durban, the Springboks suffered from some woeful goal kicking and failed to land any penalties or conversions, while for the Lions Neil Jenkins once again kicked five penalties to level the scores at 15–15 before Jeremy Guscott dropped a goal for an 18–15 lead for the Lions. The Lions then held off a ferocious South African fightback, Lawrence Dallaglio putting in a magnificent try-saving tackle, to win the match 18–15 and take the series. The third test at Ellis Park proved a match too far for the Lions squad and they lost 35–16. The tour was a triumph for the Lions management of Fran Cotton (manager), Ian McGeechan (head coach), Jim Telfer (assistant coach) and especially the captain Johnson.

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 was England's 15–13 win over the All Blacks, during which the 6-man England scrum (with 2 back row forwards in the sin bin), held off sustained pressure to clinch England's first win over the All Blacks in New Zealand since 1973.^[7] During the match, 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 20–17 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.

Honours

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.

On 24 October 2011, at the IRB Awards in Auckland, Johnson was inducted into the IRB Hall of Fame alongside all other Rugby World Cup-winning captains and head coaches from the tournament's inception in 1987 through 2007 (minus the previously inducted John Eales).^[8]

Coaching career

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.

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 to South Africa and then another loss this time 32–6 against New Zealand at Twickenham.

England had four wins under Johnson going into 2009; in the 2009 Six Nations Championship 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 Champions Wales and scored the most points and tries in the tournament.

In the 2010 Six Nations England won their first two games against Wales and Italy, losing against Ireland, drawing with Scotland and losing their final game against France, allowing the French to win a Grand Slam.

In 2011, Johnson led a new-look England side to win the 2011 Six Nations title, despite losing 24–8 to Ireland on the final weekend of the competition where they were denied the Grand Slam.^[9] He resigned on 16 November 2011 following England's poor performance on and off the field at the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.^[10]

Personal life

Martin Johnson comes from a sporting family. His great-grandfather was a wrestler.^[11]

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, and also for BBC Sport at Super Bowl XLVII.

Honours

As a player

Leicester

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

England

• Six Nations 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2003
• Grand Slam 1995, 2003
• Triple Crown 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2003
• World Cup 2003

Lions

• New Zealand tour 1993 as replacement, losing 2–1
• South African tour 1997 as captain, winning 2–1
• Australia tour 2001 as captain, losing 2–1

As a manager

England

• Six Nations 2011

Notes

External links

• Martin Johnson at the Internet Movie Database
• Leicester Tigers profile
• Sporting Heroes
• Six of the best Martin Johnson performances
• Observer article on Martin Johnson's visit to the San Francisco 49ers