THIS might not surprise you a great deal. But no, I didn't wake up with a hangover yesterday morning. I felt pretty beaten up, but that's normal, it's nothing to do with post-match celebration. I also woke up as a world champion and that's not a bad way to start the day, but it's going to take time to realise what's happened to me.

As far as the party went, I knew I was under some pressure when Matt Dawson grabbed me at the end of the game. He wagged his finger in my face and said: "Right, party. You are going to party." I did have a couple of beers, but that was only really as a solidarity thing with the other guys. There are times for letting yourself go, but Saturday night I just wanted to let it all soak in. Long before I ever started playing as a professional, I wrote on a piece of paper that winning a World Cup with England, was something I wanted to do. Having done it, I wasn't ready to suddenly break out into all-night party mode. Though you've probably worked out that that's not quite my style anyway.

But here's a thing. Possibly for the first time, I've not gone away thinking about what I did wrong in the game, where I maybe could have done a bit better or how those drop-kicks missed. Deep down, I know I could have done certain things better on the pitch, I know that I missed three dropped goals, I've certainly got that thought tucked away in the back of my mind, but there is a sense of fulfilment here which I recognise is unusual for me.

This is a massive feeling and I suppose that's one reason why I wanted peace and quiet last night rather than the Matt Dawson version of a World Cup celebration.

The nightclub that we went to was great and they'd organised everything really well, but there were just too many people in there, it just wasn't quite what I was up for, so I got the first bus home with some of the coaches. It was only when I was back in my room that I was able to reflect calmly, away from the madness of all the World Cup celebrations, and think about the past eight weeks, what they meant, what winning this World Cup is really all about and how this feeling should not be wasted.

I spoke yesterday to Steve Black, the physio at Newcastle Falcons, who has been a bit of a mentor to me. What we talked about was that this thing of winning the World Cup is fantastic. It's an achievement that stands out on its own that I will have for ever. But it is just a big stopping-off point along the whole journey that is my career. I want to continue along that journey and do more things like this and maybe experience more often that feeling that I've got now of fulfilment, of treasuring what has been achieved rather than looking back at the mistakes.

So I want to keep it all going and that's why I've got to see my career as this long journey. One ambition is to keep improving as a player, I also want to go back to Newcastle and win things there. And while it seems that I might get the odd commercial opportunity arising from this World Cup win, I will always put rugby first. I couldn't live with the feeling of knowing that I didn't give it my all for whatever reason. If my mind was somewhere else, I'd never live it down.

But for the moment, my mind is still on Saturday, the game, the feeling of winning and being a very proud member of a proud team. The dropped goal? I know it's the moment that people will remember, but my thoughts on that are the same as my thoughts on all my penalties. I only get the points because I have team-mates who do the work and put me in the position to get them. Maybe instead of my kicking that dropped goal, we should talk about Dawson who took the ball up beforehand and did all that work to get us there.

And I feel the same about the chanting. Yes, I was aware of the "Jonny, Jonny" chanting and it was pretty awesome. But again, I only was getting the attention that was due the whole of the team. And it does make me laugh. There have been times in this World Cup when I've been called all sorts of things: out of form, boring, whatever. Suddenly you've half a stadium chanting your name. I don't really know what I'm supposed to believe!

Doing that lap of honour at the end was fantastic. I went round for much of it on my own, partly to get away from the cameras but largely because that enabled me to savour the atmosphere more. It was truly amazing. But halfway round, I found I wasn't on my own. Johnno had draped his arm over my shoulder. I can't explain how great it has been working with him. I told him that it had been a pleasure being with him in Australia. But it was all a pleasure that night. A World Cup victory night. A great stopping-off point on my journey.