talkSPORT Opinion: Jonny Wilkinson is not just a rugby giant, he’s a sporting giant

This column appears in the current edition of Sport magazine. , and

Alongside Andrew Flintoff, Jonny Wilkinson is one of only two active sportspeople ever to guest-edit <em>;Sport</em>.

It was early in 2010, ahead of a Six Nations in which England would flatter to deceive - as they so often did in the era after their 2003 World Cup win - but Wilkinson proved an engaged and engaging boss.

There are three things I remember most about my time working with the man whose drop-goal (with his wrong foot, remember) won England the Rugby World Cup.

First, that as an interviewee he was thoughtful and generous with his responses. The depth of his answers, and subsequent meandering they often took away from the question, made him a nightmare to transcribe - a small insight, perhaps, into the battle he himself has had to fight with his own profound introspection over a long career.

Second, his reflections on an image I showed him of the England changing room in the aftermath of that 2003 victory over Australia, Webb Ellis Cup taking centre stage. “When you hit the top of the mountain, it’s quite difficult,” he said. “You start to wonder where you go from there. It’s like getting to the end of a film. You think it’s a happy ending that carries on forever, but then you get that moment in the cinema when everyone stops talking - there’s a hush, and you start to think about what happens next.”

Finally, the characteristics he admired in his own sporting heroes. He revered Walter Payton for the “work ethic, enthusiasm and drive that allowed him to dominate a sport full of amazing athletes”; marvelled at how Michael Jordan “could be so far ahead in his field, and perform so brilliantly with such consistency”; looked up to Boris Becker “as a huge influence on my understanding that the best never give up - he always seemed to have answers to the toughest questions under the most severe pressure”; and, finally, referred to former team-mate Va’aiga Tuigamala as “my greatest on-field inspiration - a giant of the game who showed me how to win and lose with grace and dignity”.

Now, as he comes to the end of his playing journey, Wilkinson should look back and realise that he embodies all of the qualities he describes above. The hardest-tackling number 10 many of us will ever see has two games left in his illustrious career.

Should Toulon complete the Heineken Cup-Top 14 double in the next eight days, Jonny Wilkinson will depart his sport at the top of the mountain.

Then, when the hush comes, he can decide which peak to climb next.