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PARIS - Jonny Wilkinson was offered a training ball for the first penalty he successfully kicked against France in a repeat of the potentially catastrophic blunder that occurred in Marseille, Rob Andrew said on Sunday.
Wilkinson, who had missed two difficult place kicks in the first half on Saturday and had spoken during the week about his concerns over the properties of the ball, was offered one from the sidelines as he eyed up the shot in the 47th minute.
The first five-eighths tossed it away, saying "that is not a match ball" before sending the replacement between the posts.
Wilkinson later landed his second penalty in the 75th minute and then a drop goal as England triumphed 14-9.
Asked about the incident on Sunday, director of elite rugby and former England goalkicker Andrew confirmed: "It wasn't a match ball.
"There was a non-match ball on the field in Marseille that Jonny kicked and wasn't happy with and we've got to get this right."
Each World Cup match has a pool of six balls, each numbered and last night's were also stamped "Semi-final, France v England Oct 13."
England officials noticed on the Marseille match video that the ball Wilkinson kicked for one attempt had different panels, and would behave differently than a match ball, and raised their concerns with officials.
Andrew, whose late drop-goal beat Australia in the 1995 quarter-finals, explained the difference. "We talked last week about getting match balls 'knocked in' but the opposite can happen if your use a practice ball for weeks on end, it loses its pressure and shape," he said.
"Jonny was pretty vigilant to ensure they were match balls last night."
The issue will come as a major embarrassment to organisers, who had agreed to England's request to practice with all six match balls last week after admitting that balls had been over-inflated for some matches.
- REUTERS
