Most players struggled with their kicks at the Rugby World Cup and England’s Jonny Wilkinson has now claimed the official balls were ‘a joke’ to play with.
Wilkinson is one of the most reliable, and obsessive, kickers in the game and he felt that the new balls used at the tournament in New Zealand were “horribly unprofessional” to use.
“My feeling is that it’s just horribly unprofessional and an extremely bitter pill to swallow that, at the biggest tournament in the sport, we’re having to deal with this,” Wilkinson said.
“Again and again I’m hitting the same kick every time but it’s non-match ball straight through the middle, match ball to the right.
“The problem is that when you feel like you’re smashing it and the feedback is telling you that everything is great, yet the ball is swinging both ways and missing one way and then the other, you’re left with a very difficult situation. From then on it’s a joke.”
Of course, we know that Wilkinson and England tried to solve the problem by switching balls against Romania but they were caught in the act and forced to send home kicking coach Dave Alred and conditioning coach Paul Stridgeon in disgrace.
Wilkinson, though, is fairly unrepentant.
“It’s not exactly surprising that I wouldn’t want a ball that flies miles from where it’s supposed to,” he added.
“I’m sick to my stomach of thinking about how hard I’ve practised kicking over all those years and what little good it has done me at such an important time. It angers me.”
Maybe you could have given Ronan O’Gara a buzz Jonny, he did okay in New Zealand.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ podcast – listen to the latest episode now!
