Wilkinson claims in his autobiography, which is being serialised in The Times, that the match balls were a ‘joke’, describing in depth how dramatically the flight of the practice balls and match balls varied.

"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," said Wilkinson.

"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.

"The organisers claim that all the balls are the same, but they're not. If they were they wouldn't be doing this.”