Wilkinson lashes at England team-mates

England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson rounded on his team-mates at the World Cup, criticising their work ethic after a group went out drinking, according to extracts from his autobiography published yesterday.

Wilkinson said he could not understand why some players felt the need to tour bars during the biggest tournament of their lives.

England’s campaign in New Zealand was wrecked by ill-discipline and ended in defeat in the quarter-finals to France.

In his book, “Jonny”, serialised in The Times, Wilkinson reveals he asked Lewis Moody, the captain, for permission to address the squad after an unconvincing victory against Georgia in their second match.

“I tell (them) I cannot believe that our defence coach has had to ask a group of players to buckle down,” he wrote. “There’s sometimes a lack of hunger on the field, a lack of desire to get things right.

“The basics are working yourself into the ground, and the only reason you don’t work hard enough is that it doesn’t matter enough to you.

“What that ultimately means is that the other 29 guys in this squad don’t matter enough to you.”

Wilkinson also criticised the balls used in the tournament.

“Being unable to rely on my goalkicking makes performing physically and mentally draining,” he said. “The organisers can claim that all the balls are the same, but they are not. It’s a joke.”