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OTD: Former England skipper Martin Johnson suffers disappointment
By PA
Martin Johnson suffered disappointment in the final match of his illustrious career on this day in 2005 as Leicester were brushed aside by arch-rivals Wasps in the Premiership final.
Wasps ruined the England World Cup-winning captain’s big day out in front of a 66,000 crowd at Twickenham as Johnson’s final game in a Tigers shirt before retirement – and 500th career start – ended with an emphatic 39-14 defeat.
Johnson said: “I’m very disappointed, not because it’s my last game but because we didn’t do it today. We haven’t played and it’s a nasty feeling.”
Leicester never recovered from a scintillating Wasps opening that saw them race into a 13-0 lead inside eight minutes, with former England stars Joe Worsley, Josh Lewsey and Simon Shaw producing towering displays to help their side claim a third successive Premiership title.
Wasps skipper Lawrence Dallaglio was not far behind in the work-rate stakes either, as his team underlined their mastery of English rugby’s play-off system to land another championship crown after once again finishing second – behind Leicester -during the regular 22-game league campaign.
Johnson, arguably the greatest English rugby player of all time, was reduced to a mere mortal on an afternoon when Tigers finished a distant second-best.
Neil Back, Johnson’s erstwhile colleague for club and country, also experienced a miserable send-off, as did Leicester coach John Wells.
But Wasps supremo Warren Gatland said goodbye in style before returning home to New Zealand and a coaching job with the Waikato Chiefs.
After such a blistering start, Wasps never looked back, securing the title through 26 points from full-back Mark van Gisbergen, including a try, as well as touchdowns from Tom Voyce and Rob Hoadley, plus an Alex King drop-goal.
Leicester could only manage a Scott Bemand consolation try and three Andy Goode penalties in reply, leaving 35-year-old Johnson and company without silverware.
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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