Jonny Wilkinson joins ‘The KOKO Show’ for launch of new season

Ladies and gentlemen we have arrived. It is safe to say that ‘Kick Offs and Kick Ons’ has launched with a bang. Prof and the boys clean out the cobwebs from a big off-season and are ready to run the ball straight into the upcoming rugby season. 

On ‘The KOKO Show’ this week we unveil our brand new ‘less is more’ set and outline our never ending quest for that rugby union sponsorship dough. Just as Australian rugby hits rock bottom we are there to catch them, as we cleanse the soul of the last 12 months and get excited for the appointment of new Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt and the Wallaroos’ hiring of Joanne Yapp as the first full time Australian women’s head coach. We have saged off the evils of Eddie and now we are ready to ‘Schmidt it in’.

Although we are an Australian show, from time to time we like to take a little sojourn north of the Equator. That’s right we are bringing you a brand new segment to start the season called ‘The Six Nations Summation’ with the help of a rugby Immortal, the one and only Jonny Wilkinson. We also delve into his rich rugby career and the time he spent tearing up Toulon with Gits and Drew.

As always, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, we are bringing back the Quiz in 2024 and let’s see if Jonny knows more about himself than the boys do. So dust off your RM’s, steam your favourite polo shirt then sit back and enjoy as the KOKO show brings you all you need to know about the beautiful game of rugby.          

00:00 – INTRODUCTIONS
02:40 – WELCOME BACK
04:40 – WHAT’S COMING UP ON THE SHOW
06:04 – NEW SET DESCRIPTION
09:04 – SPONSOR UPDATE AND OPPORTUNITY
10:18 – SOCIALS PLUG
10:52 – PERTH SEVENS RECAP
14:05 – THE KOKO BAY AT SUPER ROUND MELBOURNE (TICKET LINK BELOW)
16:00 – WALLABIES 2024 FIXTURES AND NEW CATCHPHRASE
19:59 – GITS PRESEASON, ARMY CAMP AND COMEDY SET
20:59 – AUSTRALIAN COACHING APPOINTMENTS  (SCHMIDT AND YAPP)/ HIGH PERFORMANCE
26:13 – SIX NATIONS SUMMATION
29:11 – INTRODUCE AND WELCOME JONNY WILKINSON
29:50 – ITALY V ENGLAND REVIEW
33:57 – WALES V SCOTLAND REVIEW
40:37 – FRANCE V IRELAND REVIEW
44:09 – SIX NATIONS ROUND 2 PREDICTIONS
45:09 – DREW AND GITS PLAYING WITH JONNY AT TOULON
58:48 – JONNY BOOK STORY
1:00:25 – THE GOLDEN CHILD
1:04:56 – WILKO’S MENTAL AND PHYSICAL STRUGGLES
1:15:55 – JONNY’S TRAMPOLINING MISHAP
1:21:37 – THE 2003 WORLD CUP FINAL AND LIFE AFTER THE KICK
1:33:29 – ADVICE FOR A SUCCESSFUL CAREER
1:37:17 – QUIZ

Who knows what the future holds but this is going to be a hell of a lot of fun! So enjoy the ride and make sure you follow us on all socials:

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If you do want to talk sponsorship or anything business related then please do get in touch with us info@shtn.com.au.

Get ready ladies and gentlemen it’s time for kickoffs and kick On yes hello and welcome to kickoffs and kick on the coke go show it is a new dawn A New Beginning everybody round of applause very exciting thank you thank you one and all uh yes it is uh it’s episode one of our debut season uh we are a new show uh

We’ve never really done any of this before to be honest um but we are pumped we absolutely pumped there’s a big eight years of Rugby Union ahead uh in Australia as we know and we are going to be at the Forefront here at coo now um Tommy he’s written another bit of a

Rundown here for those of you that um know Tommy’s great work and he’s done intros for our three ex Wes and he’s really gone above and beyond this week so let me get into this first off the draft board is a man that speaks his mind both before and after he has

Consumed 20 beers he has a deep rapport with intoxicated Welsh fans and has an uncanny Knack of killing coaching careers please Welcome to our new set the litigating Lethal Weapon the one and only Baron of Bondi Drew Biv Mitchell number one draft Pig very good number two listen to this one next

Off the board is bivs Iceberg SAA buddy a man that is gray on top but is shades of [ __ ] awes he lives by a simple code a p day keeps the doctor away he has a Fascination for Felines and knows everything about defense please put your Kitty paws together for

Smooth what a good one that’s a good one very good from across the narrow Sea comes a man that is winding back the clock the starting 10 of the San Diego Legion a man playing such good footy even Tom Brady is thinking of going around again is The Little Engine That

Could and will the father figure of this podcast and the man with a my tie fueled moral compass please put your hands together for a man that gets real yummy for a certain type of gummy the one and only go time I don’t like the uh the starting 10

That’s not uh that’s not factual the rest is good he’s always buddy humble isn’t he are you you’re not starting for San Diego is this a scoop well it’s preseason so we’re all pushing vying for a spot ah [ __ ] you’re starting out that’s the line no you’re not coming out

Of retirement to ride the fine mate hey you be surprised now jents how are you all let’s start with that uh Biv how’s the break been Christmas New Year all that stuff yeah mate not too bad actually I was stayed pretty local had five five nights up in Queensland just to uh

Reintroduce myself to the family um that was good over Christmas and then just otherwise stayed pretty local and um got very festive as you do as you do swoop in much holiday very similar to Drew um two weeks up in Palm Beach not the Palm Beach in Queensland though the

Palm Beach in Northern New South Wales beautiful part of the world um lucky enough to have a wife who’s got um a holiday house up there so spend a lot of time the K hey if you’re listening to this and you’re you don’t live in Australia just

Google prices in Palm Beach yeah yeah well you know they say you know how’s transition going in I’m married well yeah no it was a great holiday um yeah over at over drank but um happy to be back at work and a little bit of routine

You’re not happy to be back at work mate do you mean this work or the one that you were complaining about up the stairs what are you talking about Prof come on mate look after me um mate routine you know how important routine absolutely right absolutely what about

You me great Break um three different holidays with the wife and kids so took the fights on the road as they like to say lots of arguments in different states uh but it was good we did Palm Cove camra GS I came down there you weren’t there though we did queston and

The likes go did you good festive season mate your riin uh yeah different type of riin to the boys I um under drank under at overtrained I had uh yeah it was a pretty tough break just getting ready over here for San Diego so I had a lot

Of training um took a little bit off with the kids Christmas got around trained quite early and then made use of the day so mine was probably the most boring or although it was great with the kids and family love that just went quickly in the reverse

There very good now we do have a jam-packed show for our first Coco out of the ranks uh obviously big news in the world of Australian Rugby Union two new coaches wallabies wallaroos we will get into that um we’re on the eve of uh Super Rugby little bit of chat about

That the wallabies have released their schedule for all you mad Wes fans uh 13 games this year have I got that right Tommy 13 games this year um also obviously Six Nations has kicked off um and we are all about uh Drew you were saying it’s the best comp on Earth the

Six nations were you wellest comp that’s what they say up in uh the Northern Hemisphere but then we get to the World Cups and they don’t [Laughter] win uh we will be giving you a full six nations WAP so if you are watching us from the Northern Hemisphere please

Stick around for that and then what about this for an All-Star guest for the very first show who is it well hey Goan You’ you’ve landed this one this big fish you want to tell us who it is no I wouldn’t call it a big fish um no I’ll

Let Dre do it oh you want me to do it uh let’s just get straight to the point it’s Buddy none other than jar Johnny Wilkinson Johnny Wilson so we’re going to have a good chat with him throughout the show Absolutely very exciting to have him first up hopefully that gets us

A a few clicks and people realize that we’re a new show and Yeah we actually don’t even like him we just want the clicks yeah that’s pretty much um hey I don’t know if you’ve noticed guys um and probably it’s only the trained eye that we’ll have noticed

But we have a new set oh um it does look a lot like the old set I don’t know Hugo if you can maybe give us a wide here um the the only thing that’s very obvious that’s different is probably the pot plant we did have that

Previously um but what what do you think guys can you see it there Goan than you said yeah it looks really comfortable oh yeah mate my ass is hurting yeah is that from CH or let’s not do jokes like that that’s not what this show is I apologize

Yes so $200 this set cost us um down at bunny well I I do have a question though like it’s been quite some time uh since we divorced mhm we you’re on the milk yeah what’s that about milk crates can’t free so I bought 76 L of

Milk I don’t want to go out a date I got like 4 SK your SK your point M I am lactose and I’m going to be FY and blooded very quickly go on mate no well I mean we’ve had a number of months over the the the festive period for you guys

And the team I thought you know you were going to find some sponsors and some cash what the [ __ ] is this can I say the one thing when I jumped from League to Union you all said oh the corporate dollar the corporate dollar it’s a load of [ __ ] none of you have any

Connections I’ve had how many first phone calls I’ve had are you hiring actors from certain companies I haven’t had a second phone call yet well I think if you look at it we all made more money in Euro and in Yen and in US dollar we just don’t know

Anyone in Australia right anybody over there go tan you are you selling something to your left right there have you got your own private sponsorship what is that I didn’t even know it was there um now that I came over here and one of the owners of Legion San Diego

Legion he uh makes a ma Tha would you believe is the company and myai um is going to be my choice so I’ll have a crack of that in a little bit um but what I did notice is the merchandise your shirts look great yep well here’s

The thing right so um we we bought the four shirts but that was kind of it so we don’t have any other merch um we are we are on a tight budget at the moment who got the who’s got the fourth shirt oh it’s yours here hold on let me hold

That up for you um just grab my hold my mic here for me sure there you go that’s yours if you like it’s got the Coco flag can you see that yeah I can oh that looks good it it is it’s an extra large though although

From Tommy so you’ll have to go and change that for a small just so cuz we know you like to wear them tight Goan don’t you that’s it yes very good anyway yeah that that merch will be available in in Jour and if you are a sponsor and

You want to get on the number one rugby podcast in the Sydney region are we in the artaman in the artaman region then uh send us Ollie how do they do that do they just send us a DM or pretty much what about if anyone has a spare Lounge cuz like there’s milk

C would yes so if you do have anything that could go in this set I know you’re looking at it right now G how could I get any better than that coffee table made out of witches hats and chipboard if you’ve got something at home maybe

Nan died on the couch recently and you don’t need it anymore the old Lazy Boy or whatever send it in and we will sit on it we don’t care how do they do that send us a a DM and um photos photos we the we can’t afford to get it shipped so

If you can ship it to us I know it’s it’s a big joke we have no money and we’ve done the maths we it’s five shows we can survive oh is it five shows yeah fair and I’m working for free at the moment so yeah well you get what you

Deserve I’m getting paid what I’m worth uh just a reminder socials where can they find us it’s all new it is all new so uh on X and YouTube it is kickoffs and kick on please like And subscribe get on there’s going to be plenty of stuff throughout the year um insta we’re

At kickoffs and kick on I’m starting to think this is a bit of a running theme Here Tik Tok kickoffs and kick on uh and anywhere you get your podcast from so podcast will be up um and I guess the other thing is if you know somebody that

Used to watch the old show and they’re like where did those Wes go tell them tell them where we are yeah yeah spread the word spread the love they’re kicking off and kicking on absolutely uh now uh we’ve already done a little trip as kickoffs and kick on we got to the

Sevens which was great guys we went across to Perth uh and we got to meet holiday swo again well not really but you know what it is so we’ve had two trips as a podcast one was to the World Cup in in France uh Prof you changed

Your flights went home a week early and lost 10 years of my life and and second one we went across to Perth and Prof changes his flights and goes home early wait what is going on you uh one of you has a problem and cuz I snuck

Away from you on the Saturday I don’t know if you noticed you probably didn’t did you yeah you smoked bomb yeah I smoke bom I just went early cuz I’d lost my voice I was like there’s no point me being you know what happens when Drew loses his voice he can’t contribute

Anymore so I just fail yeah just fair but I told everyone you didn’t mate I was sitting next to um Jorgenson oh yeah Max and he was making me drink Ros out of a bowl when he gets to that level it’s time to go home so we about quarter 7 on

Made my way out and got a bloody cab anyway can congratulations to Argentina yeah they beat the Aussies um and the isand girls yeah their first victory in sevens it was a lot of fun the old HSBC it was a great event they you know it

Was the first time that the sevens was um hosted by Perth and you know hbf park there they had activations at the back the beach club which is where all the the teams were warming up uh before their games people were able to have access to the players photos and

Autographs and the like but it was just like the whole event they were playing music throughout the um even through the play uh some I think some teams it took a little bit of getting used to but it just created a great atmosphere the shed

Down the uh I think it was the West End south end or north end or east end one of those y one of it was in one of those ends but like that was like a great spot as well I just I just thought that the

You know for for a debut event like it was it was a pretty good vibe yeah I reckon the sevens has got to stay there in Perth like the the atmosphere was electric it was a lot lot of energy there wasn’t probably one punter who didn’t turn up in fancy dress or some

Type of sweet k from all around the world we met people from all around the world so it was yeah good spot good joint hey Goan you played a bit of sevens didn’t you back in the day was there an Olympics that you tore up no uh

Commor games 2004 in Melbourne I played um didn’t tear it up but I did see the video that you guys did for the super round that we’re going to Drew you were incredibly pissed what time was that I was pissed yeah well you seem very

Pissed no it was just my Bo it was just my voice I was actually quite quite well behaved throughout the course of the uh the event but it was just my voice was gone you know how my voice is I got like you know sensitive vocal cords and noes

It very very we were sitting in the stands watching the finals and it just like that it just went on me yeah I think I need to get it checked you might have to yeah it’s a great uh little Rod over there in Perth and hopefully we can

Get to a few more sevens tournaments yeah yeah y okay we’ll see how we go um now obviously we’re getting through a lot this year um Super Rugby starts pretty soon and we’re going to be actually jents as we as a lot of people know we’ve announced we are going to be

At Super round for all three days so the second round super round Melbourne the second uh round of Super Rugby we’ll be there the Friday the Saturday and the Sunday you guys are pumped to go down aren’t you s DG loves Melbourne do you swo whyw get to pause around this

Uh apparently we’re going to be the chief fun officers for the entire weekend we are running it uh and we we’re going to well we’re going to rip in aren’t we swoop um on the Friday gets ass sorted as some Hospitality down there so no doubt we’ll be in um some

Crappy seats and he’ll be up in the corporate box kits is that right no no no you’ll be sorted if you stay the whole weekend that is I’ve already got a flexy flight I said make sure the one outs I’m just worried that my voice is going to go

Before Sunday when we actually do the live show yes so the Sunday we’re doing a live show that’s in uh that is in the Super Rugby Lounge so you can get tickets to that make sure you buy that we’re doing a live recording of This podcast gits will be back in the country

Which will be great uh and then this is the big one this is the one I’m excited about and swe one know you are as well on the Saturday they have a bay just for us it’s the Cocoa Bay so people can come and sit with us um to watch Moana

Pacifica take on uh the drawer the mighty drawer um and you can sit with the whole game and we will be having a couple of bies w’t we and we’ll be enjoying the footy I think they’re good seats if you uh you can get a 30% discount if you buy tickets uh through

Our link which will be in the YouTube description on socials so if you’re thinking gez I wouldn’t mind getting along to that go to the YouTube description um and click a link and I’m sure we’ll put on our socials and all that as well it’ll be everywhere you’ll

Be able to find it come and sit in the bay with us I think the seats are pretty cheap are they guys yep I’ve got a thumbs up from olly he has no idea what he’s doing um now obviously we’re about to chat about the uh the appointment of

Uh Joe Schmidt which is big news for the Wes but I just wanted to run through their fixtures quickly the international calendar because if for those of you that have watched our show um I know it’s the first one today but the old one we had a little bit of a catchphrase

Which was um [ __ ] in yeah now Drew you stayed up all night and you’ve come up with a new little catchphrase well you know show I didn’t actually stay up very long I mean I did stay up all night but I caught up I thought of this really

Early uh I just you know what new appointment of as head coach I think that the the powers to be at rugby Australia absolutely Schmitt it in with this with this appointment Schmid it in so from now on on our show yeah do you like that kidy Schmid it in yeah yeah

Really like that thanks for getting around it kidy loves I do I loved it fantastic so they’ll be merch don’t worry um we’ll we’ll have to get Schmid’s approval for his face but we’ll get that um so let me run through these here and guys what I

Want you to do is tell me whether or not we’re going to Schmid it in if you don’t mind this is just this year obviously we’re going to Schmid it in for the next 8 years this is just the next 12 months uh first test V Wales in Sydney on the

6th of July schiding it Schmid it inid it in what was that [ __ ] it [ __ ] it uh second test V Wales 13th of July Amy Park in Melbourne Schmid it inid it in thir test V Georgia they haven’t said the location yet um do you know where most Georgians live in Australia where

Should they do this is there a large group of Georgians somewhere I’m not sure not sure if you’re from Georgia but I’m also reluctant to say in cu the jorgans are buddy big and scary so we’ll just win that one narrowly uh fourth test uh versus South

Africa 10th of August at sunor Stadium that’s going to be a good one oh boys like playing up there so we’ll Schmid it inid it in there uh fifth test V South Africa 17th of August back toback Schmid it in sixth test we’re up against Argentina the Los

Pumos um over there I’m not sure where yet uh Schmid in I’ll Sayid it in uh seventh test V Argentina 7th of September this isn’t gone as I planned I’ll just read them shall I in I think we’re just going to Schmid them all in okay the spring tour is the one I’m

Excited about we like the Grand Slam It’s a grand slam oh yeah what was the last one I think I think how 1984 yeah no no that’s the last time we won a grand but we did a 2009 I’ve never met anybody make more mistakes last time

Won 84 84 yeah yeah yeah okay so so there’s good opportunity toid it in we will hopefully get over there as well I want to do some live shows over there I know giddy uh you’ve got some fans in Wales that you’d like to catch up with

Mhm what about I ran into the bloke yeah in in Perth for the sevens G you remember the bike that came up to me over my shoulder when I was in Leon and was ping me when I was doing the live record he came up and and said good day

In Perth he’s like oh was that oh was that best to was over your shoulder I was like good pissed off uh now obviously France is going to Argentina as well Ireland going to South Africa uh and New Zealand have their tests against England uh New Zealand

Also take on Fiji in San Diego GS must be big for the uh area there at the moment bit of a buzz around it yeah it’s huge um Snapdragon Stadium the one they’ve got here we had maanu and Wali serevi they were the two guests that

Went we were away on Army Camp so I actually wasn’t part of anything but M got to leave early and and announced that but yeah it’s big news for San Diego they love their rugby they’re starting to get around the legion and to get you know I think um a test like that

To have the All Blacks here and the fijians as well I think it’s already sold out um tickets went fast goody just quickly on that army camp like we’ve done one I think back in 2007 pre-World cup you don’t really like the Army Camps how you find it with the US

Marines screaming in your face no I loved it there’s nothing better first thing in the morning getting screamed screamed at to get down do a push-up get in the pool get out it’s windy it was really good I enjoyed it now gidy you sent through during the week a note to

Me asking for a few jokes you were doing a bit of a comedy show I’m just wondering how your set went did you smash it um oh no I think my delivery was off Prof yours were a lot better um but I’ve still got at the moment they think I’m

The jokester because um on a Monday the coach will ask have you got a joke and I’ve got them they think they’re mine so than have you done the banana one yes that got a good reception they like that one seen that the elephant not so much

No that’s that’s more of a oh that’s one of those responses um if you ever come and see us live we’ll do those ones they’re very good um now let’s talk very quickly about these um Australian appointments let’s get your take on it obviously Joe Schmidt massive news for

Australia along with David new seora and Peter horn Peter horn exciting times for us yeah look I think uh I think they’re all very positive appointments um firstly Peter horn he’s got um you know good reputation in that sort of high performance um area and I look it’s it’s

An area that we we need cuz I think previously we’ve probably coupled the high performance with the head coach as well it’s you know they’re two separate jobs in it and two very significant jobs within the organization so to have someone like Peter horn there also um

Advising is is to have a new Sephora they they you know new seora had you know Fair bit his fingerprints all over the centralization and and the high performance stuff that went on in Ireland before they became number one in the world uh also uh new for worked with

Joe Schmidt with his at the time when he was the head coach of Ireland which then leads to Joe Schmid’s appointment I think it’s a very good one I know that there’s a lot of people saying you know there needs to meet in Australia no no

One’s won the World Cup with a foreign coach but you know we’ve just had a foreign coach didn’t go particularly well for us but I think also importantly Joe Schmidt’s signed for after the the British and Irish allons tour um what happens beyond that I think will be

Determined by how it goes between now and and uh and that tour um but look I think someone like Joe Schmidt just seems to have a bit of a calming influence uh I think he’ll have the actions speak for for themselves as opposed to getting into

The Press conf conference and and uh you know all these sort of one one liners and and grabs in in the media um you know sort of probably speaking more so than than some of our actions on the field so I think Joe Schmidt is a uh is

A good appointment uh and probably someone that we need at this point as well and and Joe Schmid’s history went to lster when they weren’t doing particularly well got them back on track Island the same so he’s had history with teams that are in a similar position to

Where the Wes are now off the back of um you know last year’s World Cup uh you know I think there’s there’s there’s good opportunity for for good growth and long-term growth with this wo group swo pumped about the appointments yeah absolutely I think it’s a great appointment I think for schmidi in

Particular he’ll bring a framework that’s you know going to benefit the squad particularly from where we are right now um you know he’s been with lens they had taken them to multiple championships you know success with um the Irish team and the Six Nations he’s worked with the kiwis he’s worked all

Over Europe so he knows what success looks like and I think that’s going to a huge influence on the team and something that we need at the moment too we need to understand um How to Succeed how to win and what performance looks like and also what I really like about in his

Last interview he was really he was genuine he was realistic he didn’t say he didn’t come out and say oh we’re going to win the lines or we’re we’re going to win the next World Cup he said we’re just going to compete and that’s all that team needs to focus on at the

Moment he’s just doing the best they can to compete and put themselves in a position to win football gets do you think Joe Schmid will be telling any reporters to give themselves an uppercut or will he be doing any cadb ads where he’s knocking on the door saying we’re

Going to win the World Cup yeah and the croissant uh no he um I don’t think he he actually even said that I think in his um press conference he was just saying I’m not going to make any bold statements you can judge me on our results so I think he’s obviously

Focused um from a media point of view they’re probably not going to get their their clickbaits that they’re after but I think for the younger players they probably need a a stable arm around the shoulder a supportive coach and now that we’ve appointed this team um that we’ve

Got it’s just time to to get around the Wes to get around Australian rugby and just support them the best we can now the other big appointment Drew um exciting news for the wallaroos so Joanne Yap has been appointed our our first uh our first full-time coach for waro first full-time

Coach first female coach for the the you know the head coaching position of the wers and you look I think that’s instrumental in terms of having that full-time coach being able to go across and and work with the team um to look at what’s going on in the super W and all

Other forms of of you know the women’s game you know whether it be the club footy or whatever it might be that the girls are going out there and Performing and and you know I think this is a great first step uh to have that full-time

Head coaching role and I guess the next you know steps that we’d like to see happen is that the girls can become full-time um players as well and and contracts s of you know align with that so look I I think that they’re definitely positive steps and you know

Joan’s got a um you know a history in in her own playing right at the international level with uh with England I think 71 caps maybe or something around that um so she knows how to do it on the field but also had some really good successes as you know in that in

Sort of those coaching ranks as well so uh I think all in all very positive moves and you know I get it that there were some people saying the All Blacks went into a camp in January and they’re already ahead of us but we had to take

The time to make sure that we put all these appointments and did the due diligence and made sure that we went through the right processes so that we have some people in those roles that are going to be their longterm and have positive outcomes absolutely very exciting stuff happening in the world of

Australian rugby uh but there’s a bit of other rugby going on at the moment up in the old Northern Hemisphere oh yeah and I thought that we could on this show just because there are a lot of people in the northern hemisphere that like to watch us that we could cover the Six

Nations but we’ve been arguing about what to call the segment um what have you come up with the Six Nations do you like that you got something better you got anything better genius no that was amazing all right well it’s now time for the Six Nations [Applause] summation very good now I thought for this because obviously we are down here we do watch the Six Nations but we tend to go for the wallabies but I thought we could each pick a side to Barrack for throughout the whole eight weeks of the

Six Nations now um Drew would you like to go first as to the side that you’ve chosen yeah sure so I’m I’m going to go for uh leur the the French I just thought you know what it makes sense I grew up in France uh I mean I was only there

From the ages of 29 to 33 but I did a lot of growing up still got a fair fair bit more to go but I’m going to be supporting Le blur all right so for those of you listening he’s just popping on a French Beany here so you are now uh

Team Laur uh who are you going to go for Adam I’m going with the nation that drinks as much as pits as we do the Irish right U big fan of the Place Dublin cof oface Jacks I mean had some really good times there hav live there

But I’d like to and maybe after a six nations win I could probably move over there and do a little bit more but um well it’s looking pretty good for you at the moment for the you’ve picked uh I’ve gone just actually G you go first who

Have you chosen there well I’ve gone Drew to France um that was another team that obviously close to the heart but I love my friends from The Valleys so I’ve gone with Wales hang on a minute I don’t have a beanie I’m not part of the crew

So I went and got myself a shirt okay very good you po that on and while you’re popping that on I’ve gone for Scotland keep going while I just get undressed thank you are you feding with his hat tmy why have you gone for Scotland uh I married a glaswegian lady

Glan as well um I uh am I putting this on this isn’t racially insensitive or anything is it well you know perfect okay uh yes so I’ve got a couple of Scottish kids so I’m going to go for Scotland Tommy who works on our

Um show is uh he eats a lot of pasta a lot um at odd hours of the morning when you shouldn’t eat a lot of cars so you’re going for Italy Tommy if you want to just come in and just wave to the camera and for those of you listen so

Tommy’s going for Italy so we got obviously five looks a bit Castro ganes it is you couldn’t get the couldn’t get the Jersey on now um obviously we are missing one nation a pretty big important Nation um but we are one short oie’s not here today who is our resident

Englishman so we do need someone to go for England in this chat is there anybody that Springs to to mind that you guys would know go no there’s no English that I like to talk to well luckily enough though we did reach out to one and we’ve got the one

And only the one that broke a lot of Australian’s Hearts back in 2003 it’s j bear Johnny Wilkinson Johnny wilon Johnny welcome welcome welcome Johnny and Johnny what what time is it there because you got plent you got some big bags under your eyes yeah it’s it’s

Early it’s really early I crept down the stairs to make sure I didn’t wake anyone else up that’s one of the best stair creeps I’ve ever done um so I feel good about that um and uh yeah it’s it’s a little bit early I’ve sneezed a couple

Of times so I’ve got a little bit of uh eye trouble going on as well but on the whole yeah I’m pretty pleased to be here let’s see if you still feel the same after this okay let’s see now we should touch on England beating Italy y um just to

Start with uh Johnny did you watch the match um anything that you want to take away from it any bold statements um I did watch the match I was there in the stadium uh it was an awesome lovely day and it was it was interesting uh to take

Away I thought actually ify I thought came out really uh pretty sort of Pumped up I thought they looked like they had some structure they executed pretty well uh and they look pretty reasonably I think complete as a team and and played to them I thought England at the

Beginning um showed some you know some of the intent that we’ve been looking to see and just a bit of discipline sort of got them a bit sort of I don’t know lost maybe a bit sticky in the first half Italy really capitalized that and suddenly England had a challenge on

Their hands which they had to manage and they they did you know they they sort of did the right things in the right areas but just couldn’t I guess push on to that next stage and and deliver what everyone was hoping so so it ended up being just another close one but you

Good start for Italy second half bit disappointing as they kind of lost their momentum and their their kind of skill levels and what have you but for England yeah I thought it was one of those games where some new players got in there younger players got kept you know very

Uh much a a start to something but it’s it’s what happens next it’s going to be key because uh go face Wales now in in Twickenham there’ll be expectation and connecting with the fans at the moment is a really really big priority and and

How they do that so it’s going to be a case of yes we really want to win but it’s also still in that how we win but you know it was a I think it was a reasonable start but the levels you definitely need to come up now uh go I

Know that you uh would have set the alarm you love watching England play you’ve said this numerous times on this podcast do you think they can go on to win the whole six nations go oh gee I hope not could you imagine the carryon um I was actually awake for it because

Alex corero I’m staying with and he does the Six Nations uh coverage for NBC I think over here NBC cors yep so he’s listening he wants to get any I said no um but yeah so I uh I did watch it I was hopeful um but in the end obviously

England were too classy in the end but has how many games have Italy actually won um in the Six Nations they’ve never beaten England before have they no I don’t think they’ve beaten them before no I mean look1 against England cors he he could actually we could maybe

Give him a gig but look ity probably struggled a little bit um you know in the in the Six Nations but they’re starting to put a pretty pretty good side together and and not just uh you know they got some star players and Caputo and and um you know like to uh

Tomaso Allen and you know Monty is playing well as well there’s there’s some good players negri I think at number six or plays in that back row I think he’s he’s he’s certainly one to to watch get over that Advantage line I think Zimbabwean born but Italian father

Um you know they got some good players but what they’re starting to do is starting to play as a team and and being able to put sustained periods of pressure against um these opposition sides and you know when you look at this English side who had a few debutants

Then you know they’re going to find um they’ll probably take a bit of time to to find their feet and really gel and you know if there’s any time to kind of knock the off it’s probably earlier on in the in the tournament which then leads to what Johnny was saying it’s

What happens next against Wales who you know in some ways are in a pretty similar position yeah I thought they those two tries early were well constructed I think they’re starting to put some really good shape together it’s just a matter of being able to be consistent and put those passages

Together for 80 minutes to you know to beat teams like England and and you know the the top nations of the Six Nations competition so I mean I think they’ll they’ll learn a lot from that match um and I’m really interested to see how they go in the second round now Johnny

Spoke about England taking on Wales next week obviously Wales went down to Scotland a real nail bite a tight one Scotland got out to an early lead 27 zip then the Welsh came home with a wet sail um Goan you’re Mr Wales why did it take

Him 40 minutes to wake up I don’t know I almost ripped up my shirt uh I would have just done this supporting someone else I’m not sure I think just I’ve never seen um that first 40 minutes I don’t think I’ve seen Wales play as bad

Or make as many as they did in that first 40 uh whether it’s nerves they’re really young Squad they’ve got a lot of new players coming in um whether they had to get to that point where they’re behind by 27 points to give them that attitude of nothing to lose and then

They started to feel like they belonged maybe at that test Arena they I’m not sure but it it ended up being a cracking game um luckily for you Prof they held on but um it would have been one of the great comebacks if they were able to pull it off absolutely Johnny obviously

Uh Finn Russell um excitement machine there at number 10 is he the best number 10 going around at the moment do we think I think he’s certainly he’s certainly in that zone um where he’s he’s leading the game definitely I think yeah there’s loads and loads of good number 10 out there

But he’s the one who’s I think he’s got the energy with him and he’s just in that creative space where things are unfolding and he’s starting to change the game a little bit just the way it looks or the way it can look and it’s impressive because you know you talk

About that first half and Wales being a little bit um off a bit slow but he really just made it look easy at times I think that’s um I think it’s really exciting for the for the game right now because having someone that’s just changing the shape showing that things

Can be done slightly differently bringing back a little bit of the old school ability to just create some out of nothing uh from that 10 spot be able to take people you know on oneon-one is happy to throw these long passes from the Midfield which have kind of gone a

Little bit out of fashion with um you know with the defense the way it is at the moment but also just it seems to you have the vision at the moment to be able to you find the kicking game 50 yeah 5020s or or if he’s in that uh

One-on-one space or if he’s bringing other players in or if he’s creating the shape but certainly the team around him are benefiting from that energy and there Scotland are to look I think and have been for the last few years just uh like they’re very much on the up yeah

He’s got time cuz he plays so loose you know and it’s like he’s playing with such Freedom that just the the stress of the game plan or the shape it’s secondary to he’s playing Eyes Up Football eyes up fo0 you spoke a lot about it in yeah um and he’s just he’s playing

With such freedom and he’s just you can see he’s enjoying himself just allows him to get his eyes up and Tack weather space and he there’s no fear around making mistakes I think that’s what makes him so dangerous one thing I did do over the last couple weeks I tuned

Into that new Six Nations program I think it’s on on Netflix and and there’s some really interesting points from Finn Russell he sort of said that he just doesn’t really bring too much energy to training like he’s just not someone that really enjoys training he just likes to play which you

Know he’s bit of a rogue but that’s where I think Gregor Townsen has done like a bit of a master strike by making him Captain because then it means he has to bring that every every training session uh every every team meeting all that type of thing he

Needs to be on to be able to you know to to lead by example but also then be able to say something and then it’ have wait when he’s talking to those teammates but then off the back of that on the weekend when in the second half I think they

Conceded 14 penalties straight and they weren’t getting their right shape and there were quotes from Finn Russell after the game just saying that the players around him weren’t responding to the communication that he was putting out there so so I mean I guess that’s probably you know like one it’s probably

Different having a new voice as Captain and of course he would normally communicate as as you know the number 10 steering the ship but now he’s also you know steering the team in in a leadership role as well a genuine leadership in terms of captaincy rather than just the playmaker but you know

They’re those small little areas that once they sort of start to identify with his communication what he wants what he needs then that’s you know there’s going to be even more growth from from that Scottish side so you know whil they’ve been building for a number years what

Johnny said I still think they’ve got so much growth left in them now obviously B Aussie watch to autu I said that correctly GS how and why did we lose that monster of a man H there good question there’s a lot of good players that we’ve uh that we’ve lost um I don’t

Know he was playing in Japan I played him I think he was at Yamaha when I was at santuri so he’d being on a bit of a journey from Super Rugby he was at Melbourne then he went to Japan then from Japan he got an opportunity in

Scotland so I mean it’s almost even ma Hansen you talk about uh players that we lose he was in the Brumby system for a long long time uh never really started there went to isand and for some reason it just clicks when you you move away a

Certain style May suit them and then you can actually see their ability um I think this has been the same you know in Scotland and obviously with Mac as well in irand yeah well I mean Jack Dempsey is another he played for the the warar I

Think he’s in the WBY Squad I think he got capped for the Wes actually Jack Dempsey as well uh he’s he’s off the bench in the back row he’s started a number of times the last couple years for Scotland as well so I mean it’s one

Of those things I mean it’s it’s also like it’s not necessarily uh by fault of rugby Australia for letting them go sometimes they’re just not hitting their Peak at that time and their players getting a chance before them so you’re only going to get your chance when

You’re playing at your Peak these guys are hit their Peak unfortunately for us now it’s just elsewhere it’s almost a little bit you know Will Skelton he was here at the warar and then when he went over to the Saron first um you know just it just seemed to click for him maybe

Sometimes it’s getting out of your comfort zone not living at home having to you know do things on your own and and then obviously now he’s moved to to lell and and and kicked on even even more so but I mean it’s one of those things we’re not going to hold on to

Every one of them and it’s you know sometimes other players will leave and then kick on and and do great things but um you know he he’s I think he was player of the match on the weekend uh in the midfield for Scotland but yeah he’s doing some great things now obviously

Also I think sorry in a rugby we’ve had some we’ve had some good Twirls as well um you know we got Samu there that was tearing it apart so it wasn’t like it was a position that was weak you know so I think he got an opportunity to go away

He probably didn’t see a pathway in Australian rugby so he moved away and got his opportunity and lucky for him he’s playing test fo0 he’s playing very well hey uh let’s move on to Ireland France very quickly uh maybe Johnny we can ask you you won three of these

Things these Six Nations things um Ireland currently the Front Runners can anybody chase them down I they’re definitely the Front Runners they’ve got an air of inevitability about them at the moment I just think they so tight cohesive as a team I think they’ve got a slight Aura

Now and energy which is starting the game it’s almost you know a five seven point lead anyway just in how they uh come onto the field and how they are just so ruthlessly efficient I think it’s loads and loads to do with just the the level of coaching the this the

Constant selection I think it’s the environment that they’re in how they feel about that team it seems as though it feels to them like a club team almost you know they go they’re almost just as tight there as he would be with the team that you’re spending day and day out

With with your mates it’s it’s that kind of feel and also you know I think just the details the the technical understanding of what they’re up to but they back it up with this physical presence uh that and this kind of momentum going forward this this power

And this sort of dynamism which it’s a lethal combination and as you mentioned there a few guys in the back field they got skills they got creativity as well and now they’re bleeding in a a new number 10 who seems to have found his feet very quickly which is always going

To be the the question that’s that I think is really really powerful it’s exciting for the game like we said but France was the big one first up and I think they’ll be uh they’ll be feeling brilliant about you know putting that one away in France with now the rest of

The tournament to come so yeah wow what a team and and I guess they’ll they’re sort of showing why it was such a disappointment that they left the World Cup in the quarterfinals by you know kicking on just this way do you think it was a lack of DuPont for France we all

Saw what he did for to lose well I don’t know I mean I guess what what France lose with uh with Dupont Ireland Lo lose with Johnny ston but you know like Johnny just mentioned there um they you know the the The Replacements they’ve got coming in the depth they’ve got I

Mean maybe even you obviously Johnny sea missed a few at the start of the World Cup they Maybe started to play you know with a team that was going to be quite similar to what is this year I know that obviously also Anton Dupont missed some

Through the World Cup as well but I I just think um the physicality of the Irish bought um and the the variation in their game just probably surprised a little bit of the uh you know the French I mean I just thought that were just clinical I mean I and again Johnny

Touched on it Andy farell and the coaching they they’ve instilled in them um everyone just knows their roles but also everyone plays what’s in front adapts to what pictures they’re getting in front of them and uh yeah look Ireland will get a lot of confidence off

That again it’s being able to to back it up next week and uh and France need to need to find something yeah there’s absolutely no signs of a World Cup hangover for the Irish team but they’re they’re an incredibly strong outfit um in terms of the DuPont I don’t think you

Can put it down to that like I mean more than anything I thought it would have worked for them with luku and jelly be they play with each other at bordo they’ve got a really strong partnership they’ve got a good combination I thought that with luku getting a start he would

Want to kind of come in and press I just I mean if you talk about the detail the game you know they the French played with 14 men for the most of the game with Williams willami Williams I think he more like V yeah uh I mean unfortunate about you

Know putting his shoulder in the wrong place but um twice but but yeah I mean they were just too strong you know and you know the French they struggled they struggled to to attack against a really strong defensive unit yeah there’s very good analysis of the Six Nations but I’ll be honest I

Just want to get into some stories about when used to play with you guys too long and yeah so but as we race to that let’s do this people love it when you BLS all the people with gambling problems love it when you experts tip who’s going to

Win the next game so let’s go uh Ireland are playing Italy yeah real quick Ireland Ireland 13 plus Johnny yeah Ireland GS where’s it played M it’s in Ireland Ireland yeah Ireland okay uh then we got uh England are taking on Wales I’m going to go Wales oo yeah I’m

I’m going to um I’m going to go England England I think yeah I’ll be more clinical Johnny yeah England England GS heart says Wales okay which leaves Scotland taking on France I’m saying Scotland I’m going to go Scotland too no I think France will bounce back France

Right it’s a good one I I think it’s could be tight I think Scotland might uh might have a shot if they they keep up uh the field they got but that second half maybe it’s making me lean towards a very close one okay very good giddy did

Johnny actually pick a team that yeah I did I did you did I I lent I lent towards sound like a big fence sit there I’m going with France okay very good we will uh Endeavor to check those results next week although there’s every chance I’ll forget um let’s talk about

The three of you well there’s obviously a couple of subjects with Johnny we want to talk about sure uh but let’s start with you three guys playing together in ton Johnny can I ask you what was it like playing with gits outside you and then obviously also Drew outside you was

It a lot of fun on and off the field yeah it it was you know what the the best part about rugby I think is finding that sense of fun and enjoyment in what you’re doing and that doesn’t mean you run around on the field with a a big smile on your

Face and laughing and joking but it does mean that there’s some sense of for me anyway that uh just excitement about being their sense of possibility and I think when you’ve got people around you who Inspire that sense of anything’s possible even when you’re losing you

Know the best thing about having um when you know Drew fullback or or on the wing and and gets to 12 is is having that kind of Little Triangle you’ve got someone outside you someone inside you you constantly um in attack where you’re still just looking at that next play and

You’re excited you lose that bigger picture of are we losing what’s happening oh gez we can’t win a lineup we can’t you don’t care you’re just thinking we could come up with something here and it’s taking you back to that young youthful kind of drive and and for

Me on the field that’s what it was about having that communication that was full of excitement the idea that you could break a team off any phase you could do it in this next one you could be a bit more creative and so you were playing your own little

Game within the game plan so the game plan could be one thing but you had your own little mini game plan that just never got boring um and that being on the field for me was was great it’s also a bit of one-upmanship you’re kind of constantly wanting to prove what you’re

Capable of why you’re in the team you know why you might have a bit of a reputation from where you’ve come from and you’re trying to just constantly sort of push the barrier so for me that was that was a massive massive part of it it kept me sort of feeling younger

And being able to push on and off the field you know it was nice having people you could probably let loose with in terms of just joking around and messing about and yeah for me it was a big release valve from a lot of the energy

And intensity that I was bringing to the game to be able just to release that and and talk about anything else but rugby which was often the case with these two it was more difficult get their minds on it than get their minds off it whereas

For me it was very much a case of just wanting to be you be able just to to relax when I wasn’t playing and having that permission or that sense of permission to do that by having two guys around who are clearly very very capable and achieved huge amounts but we’re

Doing it in a different way that gave me a feeling of you know this is okay maybe I can as well yeah Drew I rang you during the week and said look you played with Johnny for a long time I also sent a message to youits you’re in army camp

But you got back to me promptly I wanted a few stories and there was a couple Drew are you are you happy to oh no yeah I mean of course I look I think first and formost you happy it’s more it’s more am I happy isn’t it we’re not live Johnny

It’s all good we’re not live no but I think you know firstly to what Johnny was saying like what when I came I think it was two two years after giddy had been there and um you know so walking into this team there’s there’s Johnny and there’s there’s gits and

There’s bies and there’s Bri like there’s just basically like a whole team of players that I just respected because I played against uh a couple that I’d played with previously and maybe even in Barbarian sides and whatever but it was a real sense of you wanted to prove yourself

That you actually deserve to be in the same sort of team lineup as as those guys and uh you know and at training we didn’t do any contact training at ton uh Bernard leaport said there was enough opportunity for us to get injured in gamees so we didn’t do it at training

But then there was also then that responsibility that you aim up in the game and when you’re in a team huddle and Johnny’s talking to or Jan Smith or baky and these guys they’re telling you to like you know really aim up physically then like you want to make

Sure that you do that because um you know you don’t want to lose the respect or you actually firstly you want to gain the respect but um you also then don’t want to lose that off the back of that but but yeah and then also I I think you

Know I mean obviously I I I enjoy myself on the field but also enjoy myself uh off it and there’s a couple of times obviously with with Johnny uh Johnny actually invited myself and gets over to mayorca one time um he has a a holiday

Home over there I think he he um you know Johnny’s one of those guys I don’t know if you’ve seen it but there was a uh a halftime talk really quickly but we had a halftime talk in a semi-final I think it was and it’s on YouTube and it

Still gives me goosebumps when I go back and watch it but was the final was it the final it might have been actually Johnny’s last game against car we looked at it today gson it was against rassing 92 and it was the semi I believe I’m

Pretty sure the one was at Cardiff and it was the final they might have got that wrong do you remember that one job I do do you really want me to say this because it’s not a good look for you all right I’m wrong yes I don’t know I can’t be 100% certain

But I’m pretty sure it was wrestling yeah so pretty ordinary speeches so it’s Hal time and Johnny’s dropping in from like French into English into French and English doing this sort of like a pump up um sort of speech trying to rally the troops and and to be able to kind of

Drop in and out of you know multi- languages and and to be able to make every like keep everyone engaged but also fire everyone up I just thought you know like at the time I was like I mean I had so much respect for Johnny I asked

Was Johnny only doing the English for you because well everybody else could speak French right is that right Johnny yeah there was if you look when I’m speaking English bit you’ll see what I’m talking to locking eyes on Drew they’re just also trying to keep him from wavering

He’s often looking around the chain room or looking at the ceiling or just doing something else I was always keen on just making sure yeah I think just with the the whole idea of this chat is that it was it’s funny that um a lot of the rugby

Stuff looked after itself for me it was off the field where I had the the issues but the the thing with my career was the danger was that the off the field kind of stress and intensity found its way on the field but those guys you’re talking

About those you the bises and God knows you mention anyone else in that team um it was inspiring so I was kind of just almost speaking through the inspiration I felt by looking at these guys it it wasn’t like I need to get these guys ready it was literally like I don’t know

What what we really need then suddenly you just get everyone together you look at them and you start speaking before you know what you’re doing a bit like when you’re on the field you just start playing and and and it all unfolds and I think yeah it’s not that I ried the

Troops or so much I just picked up on the energy of what I felt when I saw them um and it just sort of came out but we had we had such a a good team and you know there were some guys in there that

Were a bit a bit slower on the the French uptake but um they they got the message I think emotionally uh even if if the English wasn’t been being spoken yeah exact I mean so that that was one thing I so I was so impressed just uh

You know like that he could just keep everyone engaged and Inspire Us in in in different languages then we get we get invited by Johnny to go across to to mayorca and and then he just starts whipping out a bit of Spanish I’m like what what else does this F do right and

So I’m like all right sweet boy like going over we’re going to get on the piss with Johnny in mayorca how good and so uh we get there and then the very next morning he had us up but before I think it was like 7:00 or something he’s

Like come on boys we’re going for a run I was like what like I’m not here to run mate and uh and and get you remember we were having to run up the hill I think it was like three Telegraph polls then you got to stop for 10

Breaths and then you had to go again but of course I did three Telegraph polls I was and off I went then we went around to this flat area and then I was I was vomiting in the gutter and these guys are doing shuttles and like down on

Their stomach and I was like all right just get through this and we’re going to get I think Johnny and was it um Raul was that our mate one of your your mates there yeah yeah he had a boat for us for the day I was like just get to that boat

We’re going to go out there we’re going to have a drink we you know we’re going to like let our hair down and then just as we get there we get we anchor up with the boat Johnny said righto boys get out in the water 300 consecutive catches of the skin ball

300 and I swear I swear we get to about 280 and Johnny would just bat it down oh start again he’s trying to delay he’s trying to delay getting on the Pierce at the start before the um before we were running he said look we work

Hard and then we can enjoy ourselves a bit later we never got to enjoy ourselves mate this is very much a story in my career that’s exactly what it was all about but it’s it’s hilarious you say that because um that was that was the intensity of

Which running through me the entire of my my my life really but that’s the what that’s how my mind worked um however there’s one caveat to this which is gets you were asking me about because I the other story you haven’t got for this is that I’d actually retired That season so

I had no reason to be training which is which is then down to fact that gits came out and and as was saying oh you know what’s the the new uh setup going to be like because there’ve been a change up in the two long coach off and

I knew the fitness test that you guys were going to be doing so I said why why don’t we do it now and then you’ll have a bit of practice it was just a little early I think in the preseason for it that’s what the shuttles and everything

Were about but that that Telegraph poll one I still do when I go out there um it’s still one of my uh no it’s not fun and and I essentially a little bit of it was fun to me until it stopped being fun but I just kept

Stop doing it he just kept doing it Johnny do you remember also that time when we were out in the boat and we went to this cliff and you GS and I climbed up this Cliff to do like a cliff jump and then GS knees just went on him he

Just couldn’t bring himself to do it he was on the edge and just couldn’t bring himself to jump oh man he was there you were on the edge for about half an hour thre the water trying to coax you down um but the problem is with that climb a

Little bit is it’s it’s reasonably okay to get up but it’s a it’s a shocker to try and climb back down so you sort of left a little bit once you’re up you’re in oh I would have had to jump I would have had to jump three meters from one

Rock to the other uh that was the only thing I don’t know what it was I got up there and I just froze and then Johnny thought I was joking I was petrified um anyway we got through it this is about Johnny though not about me I don’t get

It you’re going to find some vision for us as well Drew old phone the the one time remember probably the one time we really let our hair down Johnny was when we won the double and we’re back in uh in ton we had like a team function sort

Of around some sort of like was it the maritime sort of Castle type thing and I um I don’t know what brought me to it but I uh I hand test testing the fabric of your underpants and Johnny Johnny was up on his toes well I had his py pants and I

Was like just right up Atomic over there I was basically just hanging him up and his little toes are just tapping away I think I’ve got it luckily for you Johnny I don’t remember the the pass code and I don’t trust the iCloud so I I can’t

Remember the pass code of that phone otherwise that footage would be popping out right now that uh again to add a little extra details to that and and a bit of context um I’m not overly happy about the his little feet were doing that um the other part was that yes you

Were up there on that until the fabric gave away and the pants actually came off over the head which was the worst part because I ended up spending the rest of that evening which was supposed to be a big celebration pretty much concern that my uh my trousers which

Again in a team environment you’re never quite safe with where your trousers were going to be so I was like oh it was a hell of a start the next morning was a weird one when I woke up and was like trying to remember why my

Pants which I think were floating in the sea the rest of that day so someone may have um got those as a bit of a momento but that was early on as well that wasn’t even end of the night so I’m not quite sure how we got there now

Johnny while we are doing stories I I recently read your book very good book for for those of you that want to buy a book Johnny my autobiography um if you’re Australian don’t read the ending it doesn’t end well for us um but it’s uh it’s a good

Read there’s there is a bit in there about an Aussie in the Year 2007 at the World Cup who gave you an absolute spray from the sideline but it’s an unnamed Aussie do you know the spray is just go back and do some [ __ ] kicking or something and do you know which

Aussie it was that gave you that spray Johnny you I don’t oh well I I I do now um but I I didn’t at the time and do you know what there was there was a couple of bits that I remember and they I think they were from different

Players but I I sort of uh yeah it’s been revealed since but there’s certainly no um no grudges held um it was and and there’s probably a story for you know for me around this game but I I’ll let you carry on giddy do you want

To is this a moment when you might be able to apologize to Johnny and tell the story well no I was talking past Johnny it wasn’t actually at him you’re weak mate no but this yeah well obviously even when I got to tulon I did not like

I just thought I don’t know this is going to be interesting playing with Johnny especially in Australia you know he kicked that field goal uh everyone obviously respects him but dislikes him um now they obviously love him after two long days but when I got over there it

Was almost like you really want to hate him but he’s just super nice super friendly could speak both languages I needed him badly um yeah it was just and then obviously got a good connection playing it two long together winning a lot of um trophies and that on the field

Was really good but I think off the field was probably more enjoyable I like the probably the one time that Johnny would relax in a game week was the dinner time uh the night before a game you’d sit down and just talk rubbish um that was probably my favorite part

Really out of that whole um time that we’re at tulon other than the seeing Drew spew in mayorca but yeah it was um yeah was pretty special time and obviously you know we moved on since 2007 so yeah so the story is that during the match when you guys played England

Is this the one where Sterling missed an easy kick to sure anyway so G you were you were on the sideline and you shouted it just real quick for people no no no I was on the field um so what happened they tried to run out of the 22 it could

Have been I think job maybe you threw a cut ball to Paul saki or maybe you passed someone else and then they thrown a cut ball to Paul Saki and it went out and that’s when I said you should just get back in your pocket and keep yeah it

Sounds like it was probably just too good a pass but it sounds yeah he wasn’t where he was supposed to be almost like Drew in groby yeah when you threw the intercept lost the game and well Drew you yeah I’ll talk about this one we’re St May and you

In the top 14 you just don’t lose at home and and the game was in the balance we were slight we were just ahead a couple minutes to play and uh we’re going around the short side and I just offer an option on the inside and Johnny’s going around and throws the

Ball back inside and then groby hand comes out grabs it runs a length scores beats us at home we get inside and because Johnny’s The Golden Child especially in Bernard Le port’s eyes Bernard leaport tore strips off me for being in that position and calling for

It and I was like are you [ __ ] kidding I was like what are you talking to the V who actually B it and Johnny I thought you know what Johnny’s a standup guy he’s going to put his hand up and he’s going to take responsibility look over at Johnny and he’s just writing

Notes looking away it was the same in the team meeting in the team meeting he’ do something Ric pretty consistently and um Bernard just he’d point to other people Johnny wouldn’t say anything and he knew that he’d made a mistake there but he wouldn’t just say you know what B

It was actually my fault he’d just go back to his Notebook write it down I swear he writes got got away with another one the the um for a start in that let’s get into this if we’re getting into this the grobal game um I was so quick to sort of do the

Whole kind of uh after the game yeah well done guys everyone and I was in the change room so quickly afterwards because I mean I was like going through major trauma at that stage um for me and tulon major major trauma because we were

Six points up and um it was one of those games we weren’t really playing great but we were we got ourselves into that space it was a bit of a nothing game when I got back into the Chang room I was just like I need to oh geez I need

To handle this somehow uh and Bernard leaport was already in the chain room so it was just me and him for about a minute about a minute before anyone else came in so what you didn’t see was that I had strips torn off me before you guys

Came in oh really one-onone oneon-one as then like there was it wasn’t there was no one else there um so I kind of had my piece um and in terms of my not making my not making was was was pretty much genuine but again it was rather a lot of

That stuff that wasn’t really necessary it was just me trying to handle that energy inside me and I I you know with those kind of moments on video I was as bad as anyone else when you sat there going oh God here it comes here it comes

What people GNA say and do but he did I have to yeah he did give me a bit of free run a couple of times and I did consider whether I should stand up for you guys but it just never it just never felt right to stand up for you guys and

I stand by that so even there’d be times when um if I Johnny got rested so I’d go away for the away games or the games that didn’t mean anything and um I missed a couple of missed a couple of kicks and when we came back he tore shreds off me you need

To be like Johnny you need to kick like Johnny Johnny never misses blah blah blah in my head I’m thinking well Johnny’s a lunatic like the way he trains I would never do that but I remember talking to you about that and that actually affected you when he was

Saying that I needed be more like you because it put more pressure on you the way you thought yeah exactly it was it was ter yeah that put me in a in a diffic yeah in a rut really um because my whole lunatic approach if you like

Was all about being three things from when I was a really young kid just I I needed to be three things was one was a bit of a a warrior so like I could never turn a challenge down two was a sort of mar these kind of archetypes the mar was

That I had to go to the place that no one else would go and if that meant you know getting uh getting smashed or whatever it’s like I just had to go there and the last one was a savior so I needed to be I love to be that one who

Was needed you know when teammates around here a lot of it was narcissistic because you that’s just what my version of of performance was about because of how I grew up loads and loads of fear so I put this in place as a young kid thinking this was yeah a bit of probably

Religious stuff in there that found its way in and and so those three architectes when they were lined up I could get anything done and when you thinking with it so when you applauded me or when you put me in spaces and it gave me no chance to

Fuel myself with that so when bur theart says to anyone you need to be more like Johnny I’m sort of like he’s put me in a space I was much better with the backs to the wall approach of like oh you know and there were times where people were

Saying oh you’re not playing great you’re not this you’re not that and suddenly i’ like just ticks all the boxes says here we go but he put me right up in front but also you know what it’s like it’s a classic thing as a goal

Kicker as soon as you put that on a player that it’s not okay to miss you are in dangerous psychological space when you put on a goal kicker that it’s not okay to miss because you always have that thing as a goal kicker never blame the kicker and and everyone looks

And goes it’s a tough job hard luck you did your best those three those two things really but when you take that away and say it’s not okay to to miss jeez said take some handling and for me I was looking at you thinking I knew you you’re an awesome kicker there were

Times in that final season where I handed you the ball I was just like no I’m just not feeling this you you did an awesome job so that’s not how I felt or any of the team felt but suddenly you just get the impression that’s what the

Team are thinking now I was going into games suddenly in an unfamiliar mindset where I was putting the ball down just thinking that in order for me to have that respect and have that kind of sense of everyone needing me I had to you know control something which was sometimes

Not always within your control and it just you ruin me a lot of my feet came out the ground for about you know two months and suddenly I you know I was on the field for probably another hour and a half after every bloody session after

That one Johny we were the bustard had to wait for you every time Johnny uh sweepy mate um did that stop after you you know you finished playing from rugby did that or did it subside or I mean did it stick around a little bit you know living to those

Three identities or I mean how did you handle that in in that transition I think I got a little bit of a head start on that a little bit because inevitably that kind of energy although it was getting things done and it was somehow working it was leading

Somewhere I I was I mean I was injured for four entire years in the middle of my career and I sort of got a sense of there was a lesson in there which I was getting deep down but not really on the surface I wasn’t changing massively but

It was starting to unfold and I think when I got to that last stage with tulon I just knew not so much that I that I needed to give up because I probably had loads left I was just never going to find it and that energy was going to was

Telling me you know this is as much as you can handle and I think some of that was because you’re burning out again and the other part of it was because you want something different I just don’t think I could stomach that and after the the the career after it finished

Um it didn’t really change that for a while physically um but mentally yeah I did I did start to feel a sense of people say relief in that sense but I think it was more just a Rel that I was no longer in environment that I wasn’t

Supposed to be um and and that was a nice touch for me mentally although I still was triggered quite often by seeing the game and being too close to it but physically I just I still pounded and do you know what it as mad as it seems It’s probably probably since New

Year this year that there’s been a really big shift the shift has been coming but suddenly I’m Looking Back Now with a a almost a slight an interesting feeling about having abused my own body for a long long time and all in the name of you

Know a goal and perhaps a purpose and everything but I’m I’m amazed now when I look back just the the sheer brutality of what I’ve put myself through and that’s been when there’s been no need you know when it’s part of training for a certain specific task uh then fine but

You know when they’re hasn’t been there I’ve been going to the gym and you know gu you you know this firsthand after I finished and we were training together I went into the gym and I don’t see anything but the need to still play to those three things you know to still

Somehow be ready for some kind of monumental uh challenge that just isn’t relevant anymore um but I go into a gym and just Smash It Whatever It Is with no warm up no warm down just straight in in those same tracksuit pants no but they are a good story like

When you sit around at dinner table and he just tells you how much he’s murder his body it’s very funny to hear I actually we talk about how the brutality and how much you put your body through do you think you ever went into a game fresh like physically fresh no I mean

Never you to to understand the intensity of the of that energy in me that just I just didn’t have a choice the the fear of what I had growing up the sense of Doom it was darker than anything you could put a I could put a face on

Because to put up to something would have given me something to focus on and and try and understand but I didn’t have that so the intensity with which was I was running away from something and therefore I guess running into rugby with was so strong that um I even in the

Summers when I was playing ton 2013 um I was training for the fitness test so hard that I was in I I mean I was you can ask my wife this I was crying on holiday I was crying because it wasn’t going well I was sat I don’t mean to I

Don’t mean to laugh but didn’t W she wal she gave you the wrong time the year before as in he must have got the meterage wrong and so you thought you had to hit that meter which was like St like it was Marathon record p and you were training

For that yeah but I but I went after it on the basis that I me I was you know it was a what was it 14 I can’t 1400 meters you had to run no we had to get 1500 me and you all right okay and it was it was

Um five minutes wasn’t it running so I was out in in newor and they got this running track and I go down there and I’m on holiday and it’s worse than playing a game and I’m on holiday and I’m warming up and I’m having a go it

And it’s not happening and I’m I’m burning out and then I’m going and sitting on the the side of this running track and then about 10 minutes later I get up and have another go as if it’s going to be better and I have three or four goes and

Each time I’m in I said to walie I said look I phoned him up one year um and I just said for the first time ever I had the the the courage to stand up against this energy that was in me and I just said which was all about the values of

Yeah you got to do this and be this for the team better and I said I said M I no longer fitness test for the last two years whatever it was I I’m just not doing it I said it’s no longer relevant but it’s ruining me because with the

England team growing up I just had to I had to beat everyone I got the sense that people looked at me and they were like [ __ ] we need him to do that because it’s so I then built on top of that I have to win the every fitness test I

Have to hold every record and all of these things just meant that it was just so much turning pleasure and opportunity into pain and it it never really it never really left so every game was just pure expectation and it was only in those moments I was talking

About earlier with you guys when you just get that sense of wow that I would let my actual talent come out but I’d but then I’d sort of train to to let it out but then I’d over train to hold it back in you know I lost my speed that

Had when I was young because the sheer amount of just training I did and what I felt was important and after the while team started to be like look um three points you need to get us wins and oh it’s great heav you there and drop go so

I just train them more and of course what went by was my own personal desire to you know explore what I wanted with you know the best thing is attacking the loan smashing people offloading um you know just all that kind of beautiful stuff um which thankfully I had someone

Very big in my life that was still driving me to to push into that but the sheer weight of self-expectation and the need to be perfect and have these things just meant in terms of going into a game fresh I wouldn’t understand what that meant I mean I kicked every morning of

Every game my I used to before England games I’d go down to whatever Green Space was available kick over swings and parks and kick at trees if there was no space I you you know what it’s like with tul I used to kick in the car park with

Tom Whitford before every game in my trainers it’s like it’s like when did it stop and you can argue oh well it brought about this and it was great but there was so much of that which was which was counterproductive you look back and say well geez what could you

Have achieved when you you know like maybe I did the first preseason game of every season you just go out there and there’s a little bit more freshness to you and you sort of feel it I always felt great in those games but that was pretty much the only freebie I

Got Johnny You’ spoken about a lot of the brutality you put your body through and you know you would have suc come to a few injuries throughout your career but tell us about uh an injury you had since you retired at a trampoline park with your little one

H so I was I was in this trampoline part and I’d been looking around it and there was still yeah this is 20 21 maybe so um yeah 2021 so I’m sort of looking around the trampoline part and I’m still set myself little challenges you know gez there’s a level there can I

Jump on top of that whil my daughter’s probably like come on do this and I’m like yeah just wait there for a second I just need to just need to achieve this quickly um and um and my ankles were stiffening up I could feel that on both

Sides and uh it got to within about five minutes of leaving the park and they they’ve got these funny little basketball things as well so I’ve been on that for about 20 minutes until I’ve got everything you know perfect there and then I’ve gone over and they’ve got

That Ninja Warrior set up um and it’s and it’s sort of like not been set up in a way where you’ve got any clear run-ups you have to run around some obstacles to have a go at this Ninja Warrior ramp the the the big thing where you try and run

Halfway up the ramp and then catch on to the top and pull yourself up it’s a trampoline Pock so I’m in I’m in these grippy socks so I had a I had to go at it tried to run around some obstacles and was like ah jeez almost how can I

Get that now I’ve worked out a little line in my wife’s like you know we got to go it’s our sessions up I’m like yeah yeah fine just one more go one more go which was you know just one more was a big old uh um Mantra of mine when I was

When I was training and um I had a pop in it literally got halfway up the ramp and then let go and I was like yeah I’m jumping for the thing now I have to get this I mean literally I was I have to get this because if I don’t the holiday

Is ruined for everyone and then as I jumped I thought I just got shorter and there was it sounded like there someone had slammed a really like heavy door and I turned around to my wife who was sat my daughter like just don’t throw balls at me when I’m doing

This it’s really dangerous you know like throwing that basket but my heel and she’s I Haven thrown a basketball done anything I said oh no I’ve heard this story a million times from people and look down and the foot’s flopping about bit it’s flapping and flopping and um immediately I knew I’d just

Completely ruptured my [Laughter] killes and uh and and I did not want to be that sort of 40y old plus who’s done himself in in the trampoline park so I walked out of there despite the rupture of Achilles and I walked across the road to the car

I’d left the family in there said you guys got a handle leaving here I’m going to the car um and and and just flapping in my foot was like oh so I got straight on the phone to videos and everything it’s the one time I felt in rugby really

Connected um because but within um within I was in newor again so within a day and a half I was back in England post surgery wow and BR brilliantly looked after which was great but the guy the surgeon came in and he said right he said we’ve had to it was a full-on

Rupture so we had to reach right up your car to grab the other end pull it down he said but we’ve got an unfortunate issue is that your other one is very close to going as well um which would I don’t know what i’ probably been the

First person ever to do two Achilles at one time and what that would I’m not sure i’ have walk that one out um but cenia is like I said one of these messages that comes it just makes you go You’ got to look after your your body it

Just doesn’t make sense um but I kind of it’s a bit weird saying I had all these injuries when when I was playing but one of the most serious I’ve done basically in a trampoline park in this pair of socks it’s it kind of shows the sheer

Wear and tear and I’m sure there’s plenty of it you know I struggle with my shoulders now a little bit but I’m unwinding a lot of these injuries now I’m seeing a lot of Specialists I’ve I’ve changed everything because for some reason like I said for this new year

Something’s kicked into me which has been really special and it’s like a different understanding of what I’m preparing for I’m preparing to try and live my life as effortlessly gracefully um joyously and flowing as possible and suddenly I’m training for that instead of training to that kind of intensity

Which was after something which even when I got it didn’t really fill the void if you know what I mean now Johnny so you’re saying that your cardio sessions are less intense now so it’s interesting if I’m going to be very honest last night was pretty heavy

E and it wasn’t on a bike no but no it it to be fair um yeah they I only do them every once in a while and I do them in a way that I’m actually constantly looking at my body you know through compassion and love of my body

To be like look okay enough’s enough but you know I need to I want to trigger that side of me to in order to make sure that I’m physically able but relative to the life I lead you know I don’t spend a huge amount of time you sprinting after

After buses or in that urgent space so I train accordingly but it’s it’s just such a difference it’s such a it’s a beautiful difference so much space and kind of freedom and connection in it which is uh yeah which has I think changed my life genuinely that’s good

Now Johnny um we are technically an Australian rugby podcast and um we can’t have Johnny Wilkinson on without quickly touching on 2003 you can hear the excitement in my voice um and I’m sure the three Wes want to hear about this but can we we just got to the only

Question I want to ask you is how and I’m sure you’ve been asked it a million times but how did that field goal change your life it’s it’s a funny one I answer questions about the World Cup final differently every time because I think I’m really enjoying a process of

Evolving in my own life and I’m becoming someone different quite quickly every day I feel a bit different I’m very unable to look back at the 24 year old version of me and and I recognize emotions and I can see and I understand that individual but I

Don’t feel like I am anything like that individual anymore um and that’s happening all the time so every time I talk about it I probably start to talk from now so it’s kind of a creative exercise for me and and when in terms of when you say changed my life looking back it

Now I don’t think it really did it just meant a hell of a lot more of the same and a lot more intensity of the same because suddenly what was this need to be um like all those three things and also this Perfection angle and this kind of get everything right

Suddenly just went a lot further off the field it used to be you know people knew me around rugby grounds and and now it was suddenly everywhere I went I had to play that image so it was a little bit suffocating it was more suffocating but

It was I was kind of used to that I just ramped it up again um I just literally took everything and just ramped it up there was all the you know material gains and the life the life around me was changing but for me what happened

Was I went deeper and harder into what I already was um and just massively broke down and it’s funny that in my career that that happened uh November 2003 I played one game two weeks later which uh just about 50 minutes in um I completely my neck gave away after a lot

Of sort of issues during my career I was out for 11 months and after that I didn’t play again internationally for for three years um and I went from being this whole kind of this lesson in life of wanting to be all these things and getting everything perfect and you could

Argue that I I got to that point um and as soon as I got to that point I had everything taken away from me and my whole being was just this Perfection was about the next game about building about growing about getting better and about becoming more and that’s what life is

All about and I went from the peak to three years internationally without anything and it was the biggest challenge life could throw at me um in a rugby sense certainly in a career sense and so the change of the World Cup basically involved that injury period and that massive kind of inner turmoil

Of just having your entire identity question and feeling massively you know unworthy and undeserving of of of it all and sitting there and I had my neck operated on CU I lost all the movement in my right arm and I was losing my my

All the you a lot of the muscle in it and it was I was basically paralyzed for in a small area of it um and then day after the injury um my brother was looking for me because we lived together and he he came into uh um he went up to

The hotel because we liveed quite close to a hotel and was like where are you he walked into a room and said oh mate what are you doing I was in the neck brace the day after the thing and I was smashing out a bike session wow and he just went what are

You what are you doing and we’re talking we’re talking just unstable and he’s like what are you doing I said I have to get back to where I was I’m like I’m losing I’m losing ground and I’m heading deeper towards that black hole if you like that I was running from and I’m

Like this is what it takes and sure enough I went back to playing as soon as I got back to playing I just my body gave way cuz I I mean during that 11 months that I was injured my neck um I knew I wasn’t going to play play for 10

Months of it at least um I trained maybe 9 till four every day solidly so you know weights and Rehab I’ll do a fitness session soon you know as soon as I was able to I was kicking skills everything solid block from 9: to 4 every day weekends as well just

Powered by this sense that something’s not right and it’s I have to basically keep it at Bay so you know I got injury after injury after injury after injury just sort of saying you’re breaking down so the two long shift as much as it sounds like an interesting a nice part

Of the journey was a lifesaver you know I blew my knee out lost the whole of the 2008 n season and then went to tulon and just and something in me gave away it’s like this can’t happen I didn’t really know it but then when I got to tulon

Things started because I had that freedom everything started going okay again um and I start to show off a little bit of I guess to myself some of what I was really capable of but as soon as people started turning up at the ground with banners with your name on

Just all started kicking back in so you know talking about Drew and gets the arrival of guys like that who had that other way of looking at things it was a tiny bit a tiny bit of commission to just you go out there and and and see

Life in a slightly different way because I was spinning that wheel again in the wrong direction and by the time it came to that last game yeah with what people weren’t sort of aware of is I was pretty close to been back in it it it cycled

Back and I was back to that space and when we won that that double and everything for me that relief of getting out of the game was just like look I think that energy in me was in there to achieve something and whatever that meant to me and to anyone else around

But when I got out the game it was like gez I knew it was dangerous for me to to be in that space too much long ring Goodness Me long answer to long answer to 20 that also in the 2003 that final you went down for could have been five

Minutes yeah was that that same next you already had issues with it and then two weeks after you’ve won a World Cup you want to play again yeah I mean look I was I was yeah definitely I was I was the way I looked at my body like he

Said about the brutality was that there were games I remember one semi-final I played with Newcastle um I had I had five Stingers before halftime and we’re talking we’re talking like they were going down the front of my chest they were going down the center of my back it wasn’t just arm Stingers

Um because you something was sort of not in that space I remember another story in 2006 I was kicking um out in the field like I would and I would this is ridiculous saying it but I would kick a ball at the beginning my first kick having had a bit of a jog

Around the field I’d hit my first kick I would collapse to one knee have a bit of a shout and then I’d hit another one collapse to one knee have a bit of a less of a shout and I’d hit six and be like right we’re in now I feel okay now

I do I did this for about a month and a half and and I went in after a session having done this and I said to video and I was like I was like kind of like confessing in some sort of confession Booth I said to the fys I said look I’ve

Got a problem I’ve been basically hiding it and he goes all right okay let’s hear about this and and he’s like looking at me thinking what are you doing I said okay went for a scan and my doctor was just clean Hanging On by like I mean by

A thread it was clean it was completely torn and it was just hanging on and I’d been kicking on this for a month and a half for an hour and a half a day just the brutality of being like I can’t afford to be injured but I can’t afford

To not be absolutely ready for the game so there was kind of a lot of this going on behind the scenes um but so the World Cup and the neck thing was you know in comparison I was pretty happy with that yeah I sort like felt all right with the

Neck but the yeah it was getting back into the rugby was where I felt safe um there were time mentally when I was really struggling that and it wasn’t just on the field with rugby it was off the field with a lot of things but when

Being on the field was the only place I I felt okay so after the game I was sitting the changing room and I would hang on to that space so I’d be in there for about an hour afterwards just yeah after everyone just not wanting to leave

The Chang room because I knew as soon as I did um you know I was I was going into a space I was just IL equipped I couldn’t handle I couldn’t after the World Cup especially in 2003 I found it difficult to handle that space I had such a brilliant support network around

Me but even still you the only place I felt that it made sense was you was was on the field so Johnny I guess I did that one kicking sorry I was just about to say I it reminds me I did one kicking session with Johnny at tulon and I tore

My don’t no no that’s true no [ __ ] promise that is a true story that is absolute rubbish that is absolute you did your quad doing kickoffs no your your Technique into the fence that is I mean if you’re gonna say it was my technique that but that did

You um that’s fair enough I mean you shouldn’t have been emulating me that was only poor Bellow Bell was in he was ready to get first game for on you to this is this is this is absolute rubbish look people were trying to just do what I was doing without that

Instability inside and that just didn’t work that just didn’t work so however when I when I coach people now you’d be you’d be amazed at you know the sessions I get most of people are like please can we do more and I’m like if you want to

But it’s totally on you you’re ready so I have a I’m a very different outlook on on it now but you’re right like to a degree a lot of the way I was speaking in those times I wrote a book in 2004 I think it was you I read it now and just

Be like you’re pushing people towards a dangerous lifestyle yeah what I was going through was very able to make things happen on a field but the message was was dangerous yeah I remember writing in 2004 in a book I sent there’s no point in basically playing sport

Unless you’re going to be the best in the world at it I actually wrote that yeah that’s the way I I I remember B kicking tck them before a game um in the warmup and there was a kicking competition for some kids happening at the same time so there some young young

People there having a go and I was trying to kick round them you know get my warm-up done um and I looked at them all six of them were doing my stance before the the kick and it was kind of a little bit sort of funny at the time to

Be like that but what you also realized was they were following a message which just had no space in it just black and white quite dogmatic because it was driven out of fear um and yeah that I was probably sort of in that space when

I was at the club I I was still you know I tried really to distance myself from other people and let them just be who they were because uh you know that was an intensity that just wasn’t it wasn’t healthy I think for especially not for

Anyone else well Johnny I hope that you still have that same intensity for quizzes because that’s how we like to finish our shows and amazing chat thank you so much for getting up so early um and I hope a few young rugby players are listening to

This and learning just to chill out a bit that’s kind of the takeaway right uh so well can I can I just say before you do that just as part of an opportunity to to spin a different message um the all of that effort that I was putting in

Was basically for for three things to align myself mentally physically and emotionally in a way that would allow my talent to come out um and my gift to come out and you you physically you train to make that you know possible you do the stuff that

You’re going to do on the field you get your body ready so it can happen that’s great and I I obviously took that to um you maybe a little bit over the top mentally it was real well starting with the emotional one it was just about feeling worthy of being there feeling

Good about yourself but I had certain things in place that meant that I had to get everything okay around myself or perfect or have you people thinking or feeling a certain way about me or whatever in order for me to feel that but just to find a way to feel that

Anyway is the key and then mentally to focus on what you just what you want and to trust that it’s going to come about I mean trust was a big issue for me I didn’t have a huge amount of it but to trust it come about not be afraid to

Dream and understand that whatever happens around you it doesn’t determine what’s going to happen next yeah we like to clear that and things can change beautifully in any moment if you stay present and you’re ready and you stay in the game by just feeling good focusing on what you want

And if that can be Collective more than individual then even better and physically just being full of energy feeling good being ready feeling loose shaking off and feeling spontaneous and responsive and that as you said can be done in such a a cool children out way

And some people might need to ramp it up some people might need to bring it down but finding that you know for me was was what it was all about and now I find it’s a much more effortless way to do it so to correct that message I had before

Which was that the only way to do it you know from 20 years ago I was saying the only way you can do this is by basically driving yourself to the Limit it’s like it’s not it’s about understanding yourself and understanding what you need and realizing that you can

Go there straight away and as soon as you do like we all know when you’re on the field um as soon as you start feeling good everything unfolds so Life For Me has become a journey now of just finding a way to feel good about myself um for no logical reason just because

I’m alive and and having that trust that what I dream can come true I don’t need to go out there and force it so you know it’s it’s nice to have any moment I get to um you know to push a slightly different message which feels as G said

That maybe not quite so destructive oh gs do the legion need another 11 because I’m ready to go after that yeah well get me back in I actually think no but that that’s definitely that’s more for you drew remember when you came into the wall be setup and

Everyone was really strict and you thought that’s the way you had to be yeah you found out that didn’t work for you yeah well that’s it I think you know like sometimes when you go in there when I first started my professional career thought you had to emulate people that I

Looked up to Chris leam was a fullback at the time I I looked up to the way that he was preparing and I tried to be exactly like Leo was in his preparation and quickly learned that uh I was very different to him and I needed something

Different then I went to Wendell sailor his preparation was also very different and uh you know I think after a period of time you you kind of work out and that’s when they talk about experience right is being in that position working out what works for you working out what

Doesn’t work for you and then finding that sort of you know what what what where that space is that’s you and then being able to go out there and and perform absolutely and I know a lot of young Rugby Union players watch this show don’t they yeah so listen to both

It’s their first step so they will they will listen to Johnny and lots to Johnny and a little bit to Drew that’s the best way to to describe it all right let’s quiz let’s get into the quiz hey um Johnny how it works is it’s multiple choice you

Can pick any answer it’s a it’s pretty much a piss take um and it’s just is there a right is there a right answer is there a right answer or is it pretty much is this building a psychological profile on myself somehow this is the right answer this is

That’s exactly what we’re doing no there is a right answer um but honestly it’s not very serious at all um it’s just cuz I like doing quizzes basically is the only way to describe it all right here we go question number one as we discussed earlier um I didn’t discuss it

I was meant to in your questions and I forgot um Johnny once signed the most lucrative French rugby contract ever who was number two on the list was it a Brian habner B Johnny seon C buy boa or D Matt gido who is still getting paid

Apparently ah I do you know I I think it’s I think it’s Johnny seon yeah I agree you can’t all pick the same answer it doesn’t work I think it’s an obvious one though okay yes dingding ding it was Johnny seon I mean you had three vks

From the same team we can’t all be getting paid the highest very good point okay Johnny Wilkinson is known for his incredible visualization skills when kicking the ball hence why he is so successful he pictures an old lady called Doris in the crowd and Doris holds something that Johnny aims to

Knock out of her hand with the ball what does Johnny visualize that Doris is holding now Johnny you might go last on your answer here if you don’t mind yeah happyy thank you is it a a can of Coke b a cup of English breakfast tea

C Bill the William web Weis trophy or d a big Dilly ah I want to go Doris with the T Doris with a tea swoop can of Coke can of Coke gets yeah can of Coke he liked his Coke Johnny do you know what that it’s it it

Actually is none of them yeah I thought it was in newspaper no the actual answer to it was um in the most authentic way was it was a thing that myself my king coach um you fabulous Genius of a Coach Dave orid was uh we came up was started

With seat numbers so on an empty Stadium you pick a seat a single seat and aim at that um and then it became the idea that someone was sat in the seat and they were holding something so you just sort of focus even more specific and it was

Doris holding an ice cream ice cream an ice cream ding ding ding so Johnny got the only one got it right Johnny got it right well done and I’ll take that one thank you and another week where our quiz writer time no no however however the reason the reason that

You’ve got that in there is because uh an English newspaper the times Runner uh when I was injured after the World Cup so I said we’re going to do a few bit of a series of Articles and one of them was on this visualization thing and they had

Two things one was that I was kicking into a a clown’s mouth laughing at me and it was that kind of mindset of like which was yeah I’m not quite sure where that came from the second one was they actually had a picture of a lady behind

The post holding a a can of Coke and that’s where it came from we were right kopy well no take half a point yeah but Tommy do your research better I want two sources on everything okay that’s [ __ ] okay number three so Johnny is is winning um Johnny

And his wife have a line of Kombucha drinks called number one living which flavor was ranked in the BBC’s good food guide for best drinks in 2023 Johnny again please hold your hands until the end was it a ginger B passion fruit C raspberry or D Aussie

Tears I’m going with Ginger Ginger I want ginger too Ginger I’ll go raspberry raspberry Johnny you got me a little bit here because um our bestselling uh flavor is ginger um but it may be that they um I don’t know if they picked that one it was Ginger yeah

It Ginger it was yeah yep what was the other flavor you were thinking Johnny um all of them are great I they’ve all had yeah there all featured in articles but yeah we a nice little plug for me thank you we have a range of living drinks very much part of this um

New drive to look after your body and understand it on connect to on a deeper level rather than just I’m going to thrash the hell out of it and you don’t have say a spare 600k Australian lying around to to sponsor a podcast do you no have a

Think have a CH misses is is this part is this part of the quiz the correct answer is a yes A yes B for sure D lock me in okay I miss see uh number four Johnny I so you two got it right so um yeah three two one we get it

Yeah we’re all on three okay no I don’t think you are GS don’t toss yourself up the top there mate four Johnny is known for being cool Under Pressure but he is known for having a few phobias which one of these is not one of Johnny’s phobias a crowd interaction at

Events B being stuck in an elevator C Heights d the thought of gits making more money than him at ton uh Heights he was fine with on the cliff jump I’m going to go stuck in an elevator no it’s which one is not is not heights yeah

Heights but I mean you guys so boring choose something else well you choose something else the my tires have kicked in what are you going gets oh in Heights Johnny what’s the answer um the answer’s stuck in an elevator I was never worried about the financial side

With gets because I actually that was one of part conditions of my contract was that I always had to be earning more than him all right ding ding ding none of you are I jumped off the right one uh question number five on November 22nd 2003 an Infamous day how many

Babies were conceived in England in the morning morning cuz obviously it was the evening here probably around about o what was it about half 9 by the time he with the wrong foot slotted it mhm how many we’ve actually looked oh I got to give you a B C or D yeah a

2,169 b 2,690 c 26,900 this is in one day D 2.69 million babies conceived I’m going to go B 21,000 21 swe I’ll go the one 200 is it 200,000 200,000 y so b c gets a A 2,169 Johnny yeah I don’t know B maybe B okay well done gits Ding Ding Ding

2,169 right baby bonus Point how many of these babies were called Johnny closest answer out of the 2,169 this is legit we’ve looked all this stuff up 68 swoop 500 kids how many of them were boys well do you know I can’t just go with half okay

Yeah I was just singing about going and a half um I’m gonna go with 800 800 Johnny um I would say uh 106 the answer was 28 oh so so well done me I hope you’re keeping score here and that was 28 and here’s a little uh

Little extra bit for everybody three of them were women three girls oh wow three girls called Johnny so it’s yeah right I guess you can be both is fantastic okay hey do you have a score I think that was all the questions yes Johnny one ding ding ding every question was about him

No but Johnny that was also part of the his requirements are coming on the show win the quiz um congratulations on being our big winner Johnny thank you so much for coming on I know it was a tough time absolutely fascinating chat um and what a star to start off with guys yeah

And Johnny I just want to say mate looking forward to catching up in mayorca and you take us back to that n speech and we pick out the longest Chad right May you’re more likely to get the telegraph polls of that one of them was a telegraph

Po oh I I’ll set him up you smash on too easy very very good uh we’ll let you go Johnny thank you very much uh just a reminder um oh and also yeah I’ll I’ll send through a contract for the sponsorship thank you much okay um we’ll

Let you go uh just reminder our socials um is at kickoffs and kick on that’s on everything that’s on X insta YouTube Tik Tok remember like And subscribe that’s how we’re going to survive uh all jokes aside if you are a business and you do

Want to sponsor us uh DM us on Insta or send us an email or whatever it is um do we have an email address Ollie info@ shtn doom. uh send us a note there hey just while I remember um Johnny also he’s got an amazing podcast as well it’s called I

Am and he talks a lot about that stuff about his career and reflecting on it and it’s very Have you listened to it yeah I have he speaks to some amazing guests get they get deep they look it’s actually really insightful much more insightful than than uh than our podcast

But make sure you also tune in to I am hey giddy thanks for jumping on Lovely um fantastic hope the preseason continues well for you appreciate that thanks man thank you mate uh see get any cash out of the my tie from your boss yes yes thank you yes

See how you go uh swoop see you next week see you next week uh first episode of Coco yeah thanks very much and thanks again for Jay dub guys real pleasure you sign us off you want me to sign you off no I prefer Drew okay go [Laughter]

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