Wilkinson: My ankle agony in Paris final

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The celebrated teetotaller also explained how he had ended up with a hangover after breaking the habit of a lifetime and going out drinking with his team-mates following their shattering 15-6 defeat by South Africa.

The fly-half turned his ankle in training before the tournament and missed the opening pool matches against USA and South Africa but his return sparked England's renaissance.

"The fact is my right ankle has been giving me trouble throughout the tournament," he said. "I've been having treatment on it pretty much every day and, for the first time, I had to have treatment on it at half-time on Saturday.

"I haven't been able to kick on the right foot at all. I didn't kick once on it in practice and I didn't use it once in any of the games except for three dropped goal attempts that all missed."

About his big night out, Wilkinson told The Times: "I suspect it is widely known I'm teetotal. Well, I broke the habit of pretty much a lifetime after the final and had a bit of a blow-out. It was the first time in years and simply seemed the right time and the right thing to do.

"A huge bond has been formed in this squad over the past few weeks and I didn't want to break it.

"There'll be plenty of time 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 managed to have a lot of fun, but I certainly felt rank as a result of it."