E-mail Article Print-Friendly Version Contact Us Subscribe to RSS Feed

Wilkinson reveals kicking pain

Wilkinson: 'My right ankle gave me trouble throughout the tournament'

England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson has revealed the ankle injury he sustained at the beginning on the World Cup has been affecting his kicking.

Wilkinson, who missed the first two games of England's World Cup campaign because of the injury, admitted it has troubled him throughout the tournament.

"My right ankle gave me trouble throughout the tournament," he told BBC Sport.

"I had treatment on it pretty much every day. And I had to have treatment on it at half-time in Saturday's final.

"I didn't kick with the right foot in any of the games except for three dropped goal attempts that all missed."

During the two games he missed England struggled not just in general but with their kicking as well. But he galvanised England on his return, scoring 67 points, although his place-kicking success rate was only around 60 per cent.

"Phil Pask, one of our physios, said that the rehab on the ankle here was three or four weeks shorter than he would have liked," said Wilkinson.

"Normally we would not have pushed the comeback so quickly, but I was up and running on it after only ten days and was patched up sufficiently to play in the Samoa game. The medics did a wonderful job.

"When I get home, I am going to have to reassess the ankle and let it recover properly."

Wilkinson echoed the sentiments expressed by so many, in stating how proud he was of the team and their efforts. And the normally tee-total Wilkinson revealed in The Times that he "broke the habit of pretty much a lifetime" to commiserate Saturday's loss.

"It was the first time in years and simply seemed the right time and the right thing to do," he said.

"A huge bond has been formed in this squad over the past few weeks and I didn't want to break it. I am proud to have been in this team and in this squad and I wanted to show that.

"There will be plenty of time, I know, when I'll be feeling the pain of having lost the World Cup final, but our Saturday night was more a case of putting that off.

"We actually managed to have a lot of fun, but I tell you, I certainly felt rank as a result of it."