Product Details:
Size: 685mm x 510mm Limited Edition: 100 Wolrd Wide - Printed using archival quality paper and light fast inks
- Supported by a Certificate of Authenticity and a photograph of the signing session
Jason Leonard is the world's most-capped rugby player and one ofthe game's true legends. The 35-year-old from Barking, who was awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours,became the most-capped player in history when he replaced a bloodied Phil Vickeryagainst France during the World Cup semi-final in Australia last November. In the process he broke the previous mark of 111 set by retired French centrePhilippe Sella. His achievement is all the more remarkable considering he earns his livingas a prop, the most physically demanding position in the sport. But over his 14-year England career Leonard has revelled in the physical combatof the forward exchanges. He would not have appeared in four World Cups, been on a hat-trick of Lionstours and set all those records by any other means. The 17-stone front-rower's technical excellence in the tight and his contributionto the team's tackle count in the loose have made him first choice under successiveEngland coaches. But it is the mental strength that saw him bounce back from a career-threateningneck injury in 1992, as well as the pride he takes in representing his country,that have arguably done most to sustain him through his career. Enjoyment, too, has played a big factor, and Leonard is one of the few currentinternationals whose career has spanned both the amateur and professional eras. So much so, that in his autobiography he names his "All-time drinkingXV" from team-mates past and present. The bell calling time on Leonard's career first started to sound urgent afterhe increased his record to 114 caps when he came on against Italy in the firstgame of the 2004 RBS Six Nations. He was on the bench for the next game against Scotland , although was notcalled on to the pitch. When he was omitted from from the 22 to face Ireland last week, it was thefirst time he had not made a squad, barring injury, in his entire Five/Six Nationscareer. Leonard was an early initiate into the underworld of the scrum, earning hisfirst cauliflower ear as a 15-year-old playing for Barking Under-19s. He made his England debut in Argentina in 1990 at just 21 while working asa joiner in his day job. And he went on to appear in a remarkable 40 consecutive Tests between 1990and 1995. It was an even more extraordinary achievement because that sequence includedan operation, in 1992, to repair ruptured vertebrae in his neck using bone takenfrom his pelvis. Leonard was off work for seven months - for which he was compensated a princely £800by the then staunchly amateur RFU, English rugby's governing body. But the absence of a summer tour that year meant he was able to pick up his jersey again for England 's next international. Neither his team-mates nor the record books noticed he had been away as Leonardcarried on propping, helping his country to another Grand Slam in 1995. And he became the game's most-capped forward - with 93 - in the 134-0 rompagainst hapless Romania in November 2001, overtaking All Blacks legend SeanFitzpatrick. When Leonard broke the all-time appearance record in Australia , he remainedas modest as ever, simply describing it as a "huge honour".
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