Jonny Wilkinson will bring his 17-year playing career to its end next Saturday by attempting to lead Toulon to a league and European double after an emphatic 23-6 victory over Saracens in the last Heineken Cup final.
Wilkinson scored 13 points as Toulon became the first French club to win the Heineken Cup in successive games and, having received a warm ovation from the crowd when he was replaced two minutes from the end, with shouts of “Jonny, Jonny” ringing out as his face was shown on the big screen, he became, for him, emotional.
“I cannot say how proud I am to be a part of this,” said Wilkinson, who celebrates his 35th birthday on Sunday. “I am trying to take it all in. It is a privilege to be in this team and to play in big finals. We will not be getting carried away because we still have one match to go against Castres in the Top 14 final and we know what we have to do because they beat us last year.
“It was a huge effort by every player against a very good side. I did not know what will happen and it will be a bit of a shock when I stop playing, but there is a week to go before then.”
Asked about the ovation at the end he said: “I have been given too much respect and others deserve it more. Some will realise soon I am a bit of a fraud. I have been part of great teams and others should get credit. In the end, I get paid well to fulfil my passion.”
Another England international, Steffon Armitage, was named the man of the match, having helped Toulon get on top at the breakdown and leave Saracens without a try, as happened when the sides met in last year’s semi-final at Twickenham.
Armitage said: “It was a big team effort. Saracens did well in the first half and put us under a lot of pressure, but we kept pushing and pushing and in the end all our hard work paid off. We beat a very good side and to win the Heineken Cup two years in a row is a huge achievement.”
Saracens were appearing in their first European Cup final. They took an early lead through an Owen Farrell penalty but missed other opportunities in the first half and failed to take advantage of the yellow card shown to the Toulon flanker Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe for taking out Alistair Hargreaves in the air.
The Saracens director of rugby, Mark McCall, said: “We came up against an exceptional side who were on the top of their game. We enjoyed good field position in the first half and even when we were 13-6 down after the interval I felt we were in it, but when we went 14 points down with 20 minutes to go against a team so good in defence, there was no way back.”
In the Premiership final at Twickenham on Saturday, Saracens face Northampton, who on Friday defeated Bath in the final of the Amlin Challenge Cup, but McCall said there would be no hangover. “One of the great qualities of this group is the ability to respond to setbacks. If we were playing Newcastle away next week the players would front up and with a Premiership final coming up there is no question whatsoever.”
