England clinch World Cup..get over it!

YOU might think it’s all over, but for many the nightmare has just begun.

The Auld Enemy has stormed to victory at the Rugby World Cup and north of the Border Scots are digging in for a festival of English celebrations not seen since they won that competition in 1966.

But while the chant of "Stand up if you hate England" still sees the Tartan Army rise to its feet without hesitation on the football stands, there are signs of a thaw in relations between supporters of the two countries’ rugby teams.

In 1990, a packed Murrayfield roared out the nationalist Flower of Scotland and helped inspire an under-rated Scottish side to a famous victory over England to win the Grand Slam.

But heroes of that day, like Gavin Hastings and Finlay Calder, yesterday led the cheers for today’s English rugby superstars: Jonny Wilkinson, Martin Johnson and Jason Robinson.

With a drop goal in the last minute of extra time, Wilkinson secured a 20-17 win for England and the cup, instantly propelling himself into sporting super-stardom and winning praise from his football equivalent David Beckham.

It is thought he could earn £5m in sponsorship deals as England revels in the victory and he is now a near certainty to be voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

Some seven million extra pints were estimated to have been sunk yesterday by fans getting ready for the UK’s biggest ever rugby party. Beckham said it was "a very proud day for England" and Prime Minister Tony Blair, who watched the game at his country residence Chequers, described it as a "fantastic day".

Gavin Hastings was clearly enjoying himself in the Sydney Opera House after the game when Scotland on Sunday contacted him on his mobile phone. "We’re all celebrating. I’m very happy that England won the World Cup. Give credit where credit’s due," he said. "I’ve been supporting England right from the start and I’m delighted. I think we should start respecting England. They’ve got a lot of role models that any Scot should be proud of."

Back in Edinburgh, Calder was equally effusive about the men in white. "It’s great, fantastic. It’s tremendous for England, thoroughly deserved," he said.

And he condemned those among his fellow countrymen and women who found themselves supporting anyone playing against England.

"That’s small-minded Scots at their worst. But I think we’re growing out of that," he said.

"I think the Scottish parliament has probably helped take away some of it. It’s much easier to blame somebody 400 miles away. Now decisions are made and people are accountable on our own doorstep."

So has devolution made the Scots a more self-confident people? Does the fact Scots are openly praising all-conquering English sporting heroes indicate that the chip on the shoulder has, if not lost altogether, been replaced by low-fat French fries?

An answer of sorts could be found yesterday morning in Logie Baird’s bar on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile. A hoard of Englishmen in white jerseys belted out "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot".

Also there Jim Watson, 49, a one-time scrum-half from Scotland’s rugby heartland, the Borders, who found himself swept away by the passion of the supporters.

"You’ve got to support England. But it doesn’t matter who wins and who doesn’t, it’s absolutely brilliant. What an atmosphere," he said.

"A lot of Scots will probably not being supporting them but that’s a pity. If the Scots had got to the finals, the English would be supporting us."

But others seemed to be struggling to give such whole-hearted backing to the Auld Enemy.

Financial analyst Ross Anderson, 28, an ‘ex-pat’ Scot originally from Edinburgh, was watching the game at home in London, and experienced a rollercoaster of conflicting loyalties during the game.

"I was supporting England but then they [the commentators] started going on about 1966 all the time. That’s a different sport. What’s that got to do with it?" he asked.

"I got fed up with that so I was supporting Australia, but then they drew level in the last minute with a penalty.

"That’s not the way to lose the World Cup, so in extra time I started supporting England again, because they had been brought down a peg."

He admitted: "I’m a bit mixed up."

Bank executive Jon Seaton, 34, a former hooker, said he found himself hoping England would win as he watched the game in the Park Bar on Edinburgh’s Colinton Road. But only just.

"I am supporting England, slightly," he said. "I think it would be good for the northern hemisphere if England won."

But most Scots fans still seemed to be struggling to actively support the Auld Enemy, let alone not support whoever was playing against them, and chose to avoid the television.

A self-proclaimed "traditional Scottish" pub, the Mitre, just across the road from the packed Logie Baird’s, is usually a good place to watch sport on the big screen, but was conspicuously closed. Next door the Royal Mile bar was virtually empty.

Curiously those shunning the climax of rugby’s premier event were joined by none other than Wilkinson’s own mother Philippa, who left her home in Slaley Hall, Northumberland, as the match kicked off to go shopping.

She told how she heard the news that her son had become England’s man of the moment by kicking his country to victory in the biggest game of his life: "I was in the supermarket and the lady on the vegetable counter heard it. I have also had a text message from my husband."

Despite signs of a thaw in relations, there were Scots among more than 800 people crammed into the Australian-themed Walkabout bar on Leith Walk in Edinburgh prepared to admit they would back any side that opposed the English.

Nurse Angie Reid, 31, said: "It is the whole Scottish-English thing. People say it should be different because it is rugby and not football but people still don’t want to see the English win."

Draped in a Saltire flag Bill Mather, 62, from Glasgow, cheerily told how he had now lost a £60 bet for Australia to win the final.

So much for the fans. But what does a leading authority on Anglo-Scots relations make of the situation? Professor Tom Devine, a historian at Aberdeen University, agrees that devolution may be behind the increasing tendency to support English teams.

He said Scots sometimes felt like they were "in bed with an elephant" and had to shout to make sure they were not inadvertently squashed.

"But with devolution I think that the more power Scotland has, the less threatened we might feel and the less of a problem anti-English sentiment will be."

Senior Scots politicians largely chose the ‘northern hemisphere’ defence yesterday when quizzed about their allegiances.

A spokesman for Jack McConnell, the First Minister, revealed he had not watched the game because it clashed with his constituency work.

In a statement worded so carefully it could win an accident prevention award, he added: "The First Minister is delighted that a team from the Northern Hemisphere has won. The England victory will help rugby across the home nations," he said.

Even SNP leader John Swinney - perhaps mindful of the political damage that would result from any hint of criticism - managed to out-do McConnell in praising the victory.

"Congratulations to the English team. It was a tight-run match but I’m pleased that the World Cup will for the first time be brought to the northern hemisphere," he said.