Second Rogue Ball Incident Puts England on Their Guard

England have distanced themselves from allegations that Jonny Wilkinson was the intended victim of a "dirty tricks" campaign during Saturday's semi-final when a non-match day ball was mysteriously handed to him at a crucial stage of the encounter with the host nation France.

After England were awarded a 47th-minute penalty Wilkinson rejected the ball he had been given, having spotted it was not one of the six official balls which are stamped with the date and match details and are inflated to the correct pressure specified by the manufacturers, Gilbert. The World Cup record point-scorer duly landed the difficult kick from near the left-hand touchline and went on to secure England's place in the final with a further penalty and a drop-goal.

It emerged yesterday, however, that another rogue ball had turned up on the field in Marseille during the quarter-final against Australia and Rob Andrew, the Rugby Football Union's director of elite rugby, admitted England are now on their guard.

"A non-match ball got on to the field for one of the kicks, which is why Jonny rejected it," confirmed Andrew. "We didn't say it last week but a non-match ball also got on to the field in Marseille, which Jonny kicked and wasn't happy with. He didn't stop to think at the time but we noticed it on the video. There were two panels on the same side of the ball, which is not the way the match balls are set up.

"Afterwards we said: 'We have to get this right'. The match balls are marked one to six, and here they had Semi-final, England v France, and the date on them. This time Jonny was vigilant to ensure they were actually match balls he was being presented to kick with. We will make sure we have the same vigilance this week."

The issue of match balls was a recurring theme last week but members of the England back room staff on the touchline believe it was almost certainly an innocent mistake by one of the ball-boys. "There could well be a number of practice balls knocking around the stadium from both teams," said Andrew.

"We talked last week about wanting to get the match balls kicked in before a game. The opposite can happen if you have a ball that has been knocking around for three or four weeks. If you use a practice ball for weeks on end it loses its pressure and its shape."

Wilkinson's Newcastle team-mate Toby Flood, meanwhile, has revealed he declined to join England's post-match lap of honor as a tribute to his injured Falcons colleague Jamie Noon. The unfortunate Noon was forced to return home after damaging a knee against South Africa and his replacement Flood, who came on for a limping Mike Catt, was not keen to join the celebrations.

"I've really mixed feelings when it comes to Jamie," he said. "I haven't done either lap of honor so far. It's a mark of respect for the guy who has trained hard for eight years. He missed out on the last World Cup and now he has lost out on this one too. The mark of the man is that he rings me up and asks how things are going and he'll be over the moon for us. But I just feel devastated for him, even though behind closed doors I'm delighted."