Jason Robinson: 'If it's right for me to play for England again, God will let me know'

Brian Viner Interviews: The Sale winger is pondering an international comeback, but like the rest of his life the decision will not be his alone. In a remarkable interview he reveals how Christianity guides him, even to the point of taking his children out of school for a 'godly' home education

Jason Robinson, a muscular Christian if ever there was one, is currently doing even more praying than usual. The Sale Sharks captain is waiting for heavenly guidance on the vexed issue of whether or not he should come out of international retirement, and if there are cynics out there who think the Almighty has more important things to consider than whether "Billy Whizz" should be eligible for his country again, they are probably not England rugby union supporters. Even the most ungodly fan would sing hosannas at the sight of Robinson taking his place in the England back line, with the Webb Ellis Cup to defend in a year's time.

But there is no room for flippancy where Robinson and his faith are concerned. God will tell him whether or not he should play for England again, not his namesake Andy Robinson or anyone else from the Rugby Football Union. The first they knew that he was even reconsidering his decision to quit international rugby came at the Guinness Premiership launch, when he was asked whether, with England struggling and a World Cup approaching, he might think again.

"I said I didn't know," he tells me. "It wasn't a no and it wasn't a yes." But surely if it's not a no, I counter, then it's a yes. "Not really. It's a maybe. The decision to quit was the right thing. But my wife reminds me that every time I say I'm never going to do something, I end up doing it. For now, my main concern is playing well for Sale."

His decision to concentrate on club rugby certainly yielded dividends for Sale, who promptly won the Premiership. Maybe that's a reason to pull on the England shirt again, with things going well at club level. Or maybe it's a reason not to. Either way, when he announced his retirement a year ago, he cited the need to spend more time with his family. That's still a priority, I presume?

"Yes, but at the time I'd been on a treadmill for 14 years with hardly any time off. This summer I had six weeks off and actually went on a couple of holidays instead of three days in Anglesey. Also, what's changed is that everybody was hoping England would come good, but thus far that's not happened. With only 12 months until a World Cup, things have to start happening.'

So that's it; he feels it's his patriotic duty to come back? He smiles. "Well, the reasons I gave for retiring are still the same. But I've had a good chat with Andy and he said he'd be happy if I was available. I said it was a massive decision, that I'd pray about it and let him know. I would have to be playing well to come straight back into consideration, and I would want to come back for the right reasons. If it's right, God will let me know."

But how? How will he reach the point at which he is sure God wants him to play for England again? Another smile. He is used to the scepticism of non-believers. "It's about relationships. When you pick up the phone and hear your wife's voice, you don't have to ask who it is. You have a relationship. It's the same with God."

(That said, the England coach feels the match against New Zealand on 5 November is "not the correct moment" for a return.)

But let's talk about the relentless "treadmill" that forced him to give up international rugby in the first place. Was it really a treadmill? There's a common perception, I tell him, that sports stars have a cushy number.

Robinson smiles again. It's going to take more than a question from me to upset his equilibrium. "I'm paid well to do something I enjoy, so in that sense there's nothing to complain about. But at least Joe Bloggs, working nine to five Monday to Friday, has a routine. For me, the training programme changes every week, your weekends are not your own, you can be away from home overnight, or for a week, or for months if there's a World Cup.

"And there's the pressure to perform. You're expected to play at a certain level week in, week out, year in, year out. If you make a mistake, it's not like being in an office where only half a dozen people will see it, there might be millions watching. And physically it's really demanding. You prepare for a game all week, then you get battered, and it's all about recovery for the next one. All that takes its toll."

It's mightily well said, yet while he is saying it a distant blasphemous oath, uttered by one of his Sale team-mates, floats through the door. We are tucked away in the medical room at the Sharks' training-ground on the outskirts of Manchester, with the sound of clattering studs and changing-room horseplay in the background. The oath makes me wonder how easy it is for Robinson - who was once himself a heavy drinker, carouser and blasphemer - to feel relaxed in the company of team-mates less godly than he is, and for that matter vice versa?

"Well, the days of excessive drinking in rugby are gone. If you turn up smelling of beer here, you won't be doing it again, that's for sure. But I don't tell anyone how to live their lives. If people can see something in me that helps them, then well and good, but nobody wants so-called Bible-bashing. We can all talk a good game, what I try to do is live it.

"I've been a bad lad. I know everything that could ever go on, and I know what to watch out for: the fame, the money, the trappings that can snare you. But at the end of day I'm still human. I might come home grumpy, I might have a short fuse with the missus. If I was perfect I wouldn't need God. He came for the sinners, and I am one of those.

"Besides, being a born-again Christian is not just about being Mr Nice Guy, warming a seat in church every Sunday. It's about living the right way. I'm a father of five, a husband, the captain of this team. I've got to set an example."

The example that he himself followed was that of his Wigan team-mate Va'aiga Tuigamala, who arrived at Central Park in 1994 when Robinson was downing bottles of vodka for fun. "I couldn't work out why he was so happy. He turned up every morning with a smile from ear to ear, yet he didn't drink, he didn't smoke, he didn't sleep around, he didn't have the nicest car in the car park. It was when I finally realised what brought him such contentment that I realised it what I was seeking myself."

With his born-again Christianity has come the decision to educate his five children - aged 12, 11, six, three and one - at home. "Neither of us are teachers so we do it by God's grace," he says. "The way we see it, we want to bring up the children in a godly way, and if we stick them in the state system I'm afraid that wouldn't happen."

Not even if they went to a church school? "Nobody knows the children better than the parents. We wanted children - why should we send them off to school?"

Robinson says all this in such a calm, reasonable way, that it is only later, transcribing the tape, that I feel offended on behalf of myself and everyone else who sends their children to state schools. The implication seems to be that he and his wife are doing a better job of parenting than the rest of us. But at the time, closeted in the medical room with him, I merely raise the issue of other children's company. Would not his kids benefit from the society of their peers?

"The problem with society is not that children haven't got friends, it's the sort of friends they have," he says. "People are more protective of plants than they are of children, bringing them in for the winter and so on."

Then isn't there a degree of hypocrisy involved in him being an ambassador for the Tesco policy of offering vouchers to be redeemed by schools in exchange for sports equipment? "It's for clubs as well as schools. My children can still play organised sport."

It's time to change the subject. I ask him whether it is the arrival in the England set-up of his old mentor at Bath, Brian Ashton, that might play a part in his red rose deliberations? Or conversely, whether he is influenced by the exit from the England coaching staff of Joe Lydon, in a former life a Wigan rugby league legend, just like Robinson.

"I certainly enjoyed playing under Brian and he knows what style of play he wants. The main difference between him and Joe Lydon is that Brian's background is in rugby union. With due respect to Joe, Brian knows the game a lot better. Joe maybe needs a bit more time."

Which brings us to Andy Farrell, a former Wigan colleague now in the union spotlight. He must have watched with interest as Farrell followed in his footsteps? "Yeah, of course. But wingers in league and in union are not too dissimilar, so it was easier for me. And I was playing for the Lions before I made my first full start for England, so I was blessed. The pages kept turning for me. It's a lot harder for forwards to make the switch, and of course Andy has had a very tough time with injury."

Will he be a part of England's World Cup campaign? I'm sure he will, if he stays free of injury. He's got great hands, good vision, and a good kicking game, and there aren't many forwards with his skill, that's for sure. He's a one-off, but he'll still need to learn technical things that he's not had to do before. He's got to come to terms with the line-outs, and with scrummaging. He's going to have to start pushing. And his positioning will take a while to get right.

"In the early days he'll be out of position for split seconds here and there, and people will try to take advantage. But as I say, he's a very gifted player and like me he wanted a new challenge.'

After six years of so wonderfully meeting that challenge, which does he now prefer to watch: league or union?

"It all depends who's playing," he says, diplomatically. "I like watching a good game of either."

Then does he sympathise with all those rugby league enthusiasts whose hearts must be broken by the exodus of talents like his and Farrell's, even though for years the boot was on the other foot?

"There's a lot of ignorance on both sides. When I played rugby league I was very biased against union because I didn't understand it. I used to call it kick-and-clap. The ball would be kicked by somebody and everyone would clap.

"I'm still getting to understand it more and more every year. Someone will say something about a ruck, what you're not allowed to do, and I'll think 'I didn't know that'."

What he certainly does understand, however, is the influence over a line of backs of a good No 10. And in his Sale team-mate Charlie Hogson, and his fellow World Cup winner Jonny Wilkinson, he has played with two of the best. I invite him to compare them.

"They're both exceptional. Jonny's injuries have been massively frustrating for him because he's such a perfectionist. In Charlie's case, people were writing him off two years ago but I always firmly believed in his ability. His decision-making, his tactical kicking, is second to none.

"If they were both fit by the time of the next World Cup I would have Charlie at fly-half and Jonny at 12, then you have two guys who can use the ball, two thinkers, two kicking options..."

And perhaps Robinson a little further along the line? You have to admit it's a tasty prospect.

Jason Robinson is the ambassador of Tesco Sport for Schools & Clubs, a voucher collection scheme launched to encourage more children to get involved in sport. Vouchers can be collected at Tesco stores until 5 November 2006. For more information on the scheme including the chance to win a training session with Jason visit www.tesco.com/sport

Here's to you Mr Robinson: Life and times of rugby's speed merchant

Name: Jason Thorpe Robinson

Date of birth: 30 July, 1974

Born: Leeds

Height: 1.73m (5ft 8in)

Weight: 84 kg (13st 3lb)

Rugby Union Career

Position: Full back or wing

England: Caps 39, Tries 24

England captain: 2004-2005 (Six Nations: Won 2, Lost 3)

British Lions: Caps 5, Tries 2

Clubs: Sale Sharks (since 2000), Bath (1996-97)

Rugby League Career

Position: Full back or wing

Great Britain: Caps 12, Tries 7

Clubs: Hunslet (amateur), Wigan (1991-1999)

* Robinson is nicknamed 'Billy Whizz' after the fleet-of-foot character in 'The Beano' comic. Other nicknames: Robbo and Stumpy.

* He played 302 rugby league games, scoring 184 tries.

* He was the 118th rugby union captain of England, the first mixed-race and first former rugby league player to he appointed to the role. In his first appearance as captain, he scored a hat-trick of tries in a 70-0 whitewash of Canada.