ENGLAND deserved to win, because they played the best rugby throughout the tournament. It was a great piece of sporting theatre, and it was just fantastic to watch.
The final was never going to contain the finest rugby, given the nature of the occasion and the weather conditions which were wet and greasy again. The number of passes which went down were indicative of that. Both sides were playing much the same ta
ctics and cancelled each other out.
It was always going to be the side which coped with the pressure which was going to win, and though the lead swapped hands and Australia kept pegging England back, in the end the result proved that England had more bottle.
Gone are the days when there could be talk of the Poms not having the bottle for the big stage. England proved yesterday and throughout the tournament that they have it in abundance.
Indeed some time before the end, I think Australia knew deep down that it wasn’t going to be their day and England, by contrast, knew that they could do it if they could just get that vital score.
The guys deserve every reward they will now get for the success they have achieved. They are a team of winners.
Who do you single out from such a magnificent team performance?
Martin Johnson was just phenomenal. He may not be the best-loved person in Scotland or elsewhere in the world, but wherever you are coming from you have to have huge admiration for his determination to achieve success.
The rest of the front five all had their problems. Steve Thompson’s throwing in at the lineout didn’t find his jumpers, but maybe there were problems with the calls, and that put England under all sorts of unnecessary pressure.
Trevor Woodman looked as if he was under the cosh and Phil Vickery seemed a bit fragile. It was crucial that Jason Leonard came on and was able to steady the scrum and give England a better platform in extra time. His experience showed as he was able to stand square and transmit the force forward.
Richard Hill did tremendously well again yesterday. He just does so much good stuff and has an uncanny nose for the ball while Neil Back is also very good at what he does. The combination of the two of them works very well and takes a bit of the pressure off Lawrence Dallaglio, who was once again a main man for England.
Like Martin Johnson, Lawrence really wanted this win and hopefully this might give them the incentive to carry on a bit longer in international rugby. I’m not quite sure how their bodies are standing up and it might be that in the cold light of day they will say "enough" and let the young bloods come through, but I for one hope they continue.
Behind the scrum, I thought Matt Dawson and Mike Tindall were outstanding. Jason Robinson always threatened and Will Greenwood stood up well.
What more can you say about Jonny Wilkinson? With Martin Johnson up front and Wilko in the backs you have two natural-born winners in the side. He made his kicks count, especially that final drop goal.
The Australians played as well as could be expected. Bearing in mind the conditions which affected both sides and caused lots of mistakes, it was Australia who just couldn’t hack it when it came down to the crunch.
This was despite the fact that Elton Flatley played magnificently under huge pressure. Apart from the opening couple of fluffs, he kicked superbly and you can only wonder at how he dealt with the pressure of those late kicks to keep them in the game.
Ultimately, the Australians just didn’t have that inner core, although when the match went into extra time I thought they would up their game. As it was, England were able to turn it round and get the victory they deserved.
This win is going to be massive for the sport in England. It is going to do what the Scots and the rest of the world have always been afraid of - if England is finally able to tap into its huge player base then everybody else is going to be in trouble.
England have created a gap that is going to very difficult for the home nations, at least, to bridge. France are going to be a good side, and you can see that the stand-off Michalak is at the same level Jonny Wilkinson was at two years ago - they will be the main challengers now.
Scotland are just so far behind. They had a desperate tournament but I worry more about the game at the lower levels which has been decimated. When I played in the ’70s, if you were going up to Gala or Hawick or to play West of Scotland at Bearsden you knew you were in for a pretty good hiding. It was hard old stuff, but that doesn’t exist now. The danger for all of us is that we concentrate too much on the elite end of rugby, the professional teams, and forget the community-based game. That would be disastrous in the long run.
Yesterday’s final was a great advert. It was hugely gladiatorial, and I’ll admit that I was shaking at the end with the sheer drama of it all. It could have gone either way right to the end.
People always talk about rugby being a game of physical chess, trying to get the opposition to move around the way you want them to. England just had that one more move.
Australia almost matched them all the way but it was England who had prepared to the nth degree and England who got right on the day. They are worthy world champions.
