Mathieu Bastareaud Perfectly Sums Up The Legend That Is Jonny Wilkinson With Brilliant Interview
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Legend.
European rugby returned last night with three-time champions Toulouse fighting back from a big halftime deficit to secure a crucial away with against Gloucester at Kingsholm.
Round one kicks fully into gear later today with the likes of Munster, Leinster, Ospreys, Bath, Ulster, Clermont, Harlequins and Exeter Chiefs all in action across Europe.
Ahead of last night’s game, BT Sport took a look at some of the biggest legends of the competition to help get us in the mood – and they don’t come much bigger than one Jonny Wilkinson.
European success alluded the World Cup winner for a long time before a move to Toulon changed all that, with the former England international leading them to three titles in-a-row before retiring.
French centre Mathieu Bastareaud played outside Wilkinson while he was at Toulon and had some lovely words to say about him last night in an excellent interview. Excuse his English!
“Jonny [Wilkinson] doesn’t want to play this game for him,” Bastareaud said.
“But him wants to play this game for us.
“Me when I play with Jonny I was like a kid and he was the best player in the world.
“So when he speak – you listen.
He goes on to praise Wilkinson for what he did for the game and proves that Toulon would never have had the success they had without the Englishman. In a team that was filled with superstars, no one commanded more respect than the Englishman.