England became the first northern hemisphere side to win the Rugby World Cup, a Jonny Wilkinson drop-goal in the last minute of extra-time handing them a 20-17 win over a game Wallaby side at the Telstra Stadium in Sydney.
The English deserved to raise the Webb Ellis Cup after 100 minutes of drama, excitement, tries (yes, tries!) and bravery, with skipper Martin Johnson quick to pay tribute to his players, the management and a horde of English fans who made the trip out to Australia.
It was a fairytale win for the English, but a win they had to fight for until the bitter end, despite enjoying a 14-5 half-time lead.
The Wallabies got off to an excellent start, but it was a stupid moment from England loosehead prop Trevor Woodman -- a swinging arm at a maul -- that made life a lot easier for them.
The home side kicked to touch from that penalty and won a free-kick. They opted to scrum and instead of going wide, Stephen Larkham hoisted a pin-point bomb onto Jason Robinson, who was out-jumped by fellow Rugby League convert Lote Tuqiri.
Waratahs star Tuqiri got higher than his smaller opponent, ripped the ball out of the air and crashed over. Elton Flatley missed the tricky conversion attempt, but it was advantage Australia. Big time.
England, however, did not panic.
They simply put their heads down and got stuck in. Even Woodman did, but not before trying a silly little inside pass, which went forward, and conceding another penalty -- this time at scrum time. But it mattered little.
Australia were not able to punish those indiscretions and Wilkinson had, in the meantime, slotted two penalties. The Wallaby effort, meanwhile, took a slight knock when their kingpin, Larkham, was forced into the blood bin after taking a Ben Cohen boot in his face -- when he was to blame for tackling England's monster winger without the ball. That indiscretion gave Wilkinson his second shot at goal.
Matt Giteau was always destined to replace Larkham in the match, but he came on some time earlier than anticipated, his first few touches did not convince -- as Wilkinson slammed him into Stadium Australia's turf the first time he had a go at the defence himself.
Larkham did come back on, but he made another two trips to the blood bin and his return always saw the Wallabies' level of play reach new heights. Giteau, to be fair, did not do badly, but Larkham was able to pick his runners out with some wonderful skip passes, and his tactical-kicking in the final few nervous moments of extra-time kept his side in with a chance.
While Giteau struggled to get into the game, team-mate Wendell Sailor was still waiting for his first touch and the first effect he had on proceedings saw Mike Tindall bowl him over on a fine run deep into Wallaby territory. Tindall brushed him off with minimum fuss, but eventually two Wallabies took him into touch.
The Wallabies won their line-out ball easily enough, but erred soon afterwards when Mat Rogers missed touch. Jason Robinson carried the ball back and set up a ruck on the left. Suddenly Lawrence Dallaglio burst onto the ball at pace and broke through the defence, he tossed the ball to the right, to Wilkinson, who then spun it out left to Robinson, who went low and slid over in the defence. Sailor was not there, which made things a bit easier, but even if he had been there it is doubtful that he would have stopped the little dynamo.
It was advantage England just minutes before half-time and they went into the break at 14-5 up -- and ominous sign if ever, as no side leading at half-time had ever lost a World Cup Final.
The second half seemed to lack the intensity of the first stanza, but England seemed to go to sleep, allowing the Wallabies back into the game, with Flatley chipping away at their lead with penalties in the 48th and 61st minutes -- leaving England ahead by just three points at 14-11.
England did not really have many chances in the second half to put points on the board. Wilkinson did not have any shots goal, with Australia's discipline a key feature of the second half, while he also missed a drop-goal attempt. But England did not step up the expected level when the match was there to be finished off. Also, Wilkinson seemed to move away from first-receiver and he was not able to stamp his authority on the game at a crucial stage.
The Wallabies, however, deserve credit for hanging in there, eventually forcing a penalty in the England 22 when Trevor Woodman stood up in a scrum, giving Elton Flatley a tough angle at the posts. But the Queensland fly-half, the Wallabies' vice-captain, did not disappoint and he stepped up and calmly put the kick over to tie the scores at 14-14.
The game then went into extra-time after a five-minute break. The rules laid down 10 minutes either way, with a five-minute interval. If the scores were still tied there would be another five-minute break and a further sudden-death 10-minute period of extra-time.
If no winner had been declared after the second bit of extra-time, a drop-goal competition would have been the next step. Of course, meaningless and illogical. Thankfully, it did not get to that -- a man only has so many nails to chew! -- but it would have been sad had this match been decided on a few drop-goals.
But wait ... The match was decided on a drop-goal. But it was a drop-goal that was well-crafted, a drop-goal that required a huge build-up, and a drop-goal that came after Flatley had once again managed to equalise things shortly before the final whistle.
Wilkinson opened the scoring early in extra-time when Wallaby lock Justin Harrison conceded a silly penalty, and Flatley kicked his fourth penalty after some England hands in the ruck were spotted by South African referee André Watson, who must be commended for yet another fine refereeing display in his second successive World Cup Final.
With just three minutes remaining, the drop-goal was always going to be on. It looked set to happen from way out, but Matt Dawson caught the tense Aussie defence napping to scoot through and set up a ruck in the Australian 22. Neil Back flung the ball out to his skipper Martin Johnson who bashed it up one more time and then Dawson got back to his feet for one final pass, which saw one final swing of Wilkinson's right boot.
Wilkinson had done it. England had done it. Australia so very nearly managed to do it. It was a terrific Final, a terrific World Cup as a result and a very nerve-wracking 100 minutes of Finals rugby.
Man of the match: Where to start? For England skipper Martin Johnson was once again a colossus -- tackling, running and jumping for 100 minutes. Richard Hill, too, was excellent, and Matt Dawson and Will Greenwood showed cool heads, and Jason Robinson thrilled every time he touched the ball. For the Wallabies, Bill Young and Justin Harrison grafted non-stop, while fly-half Stephen Larkham and centres Elton Flatley and Stirling Mortlock deserved better. However, you just cannot ignore the claims of one man -- England's No.10 Jonny Wilkinson. Say he's boring, say he's not quick enough. But he certainly knows how to win a match and they do not come any bigger than this. A class act on defence, with some thunderous hits in the midfield, and the sweetest boot in world rugby.
Moment of the match: Just one moment -- Wilkinson's drop-goal that gave England the win just seconds before the final whistle in the second half of extra-time. What a nail-biting finish to a memorable match! And, yes, what a player.
Villain of the match: This game was an absolute stunner. Forget trying to wind the English up with the "boring" or "one-man show" jibes. This was an absorbing contest and about as exciting as any Final could be. Our villain then? Without doubt Trevor Woodman. Not too many unsavoury incidents, but Woodman's very stupid swinging arm gave the Wallabies their momentum early on and very nearly allowed them to steal the Webb Ellis Cup from under England's noses. Two crucial Ben Kay knock-ons in the closing stages of the game -- and his first-half howler when he knocked-on with an open tryline -- deserve a mention here, too!
The scorers:
For Australia:
Tries: Tuqiri 1
Pens: Flatley 4
For England:
Tries: Robinson 1
Pens: Wilkinson 4
Drop: Wilkinson 1
The teams:
Australia: 15 Mat Rogers, 14 Lote Tuqiri, 13 Stirling Mortlock, 12 Elton Flatley, 11 Wendell Sailor, 10 Steve Larkham, 9 George Gregan (c), 8 David Lyons, 7 Phil Waugh, 6 George Smith, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 Justin Harrison, 3 Bill Young, 2 Brendan Cannon, 1 Alastair Baxter
Reserves: Matt Cockbain, Matt Giteau, Jeremy Paul, Joe Roff, Matt Dunning
Unused: David Giffin, Chris Whitaker
England: 15 Josh Lewsey, 14 Ben Cohen, 13 Mike Tindall, 12 Will Greenwood, 11 Jason Robinson, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 9 Matt Dawson, 8 Lawrence Dallaglio, 7 Richard Hill, 6 Neil Back, 5 Martin Johnson (c), 4 Ben Kay, 3 Trevor Woodman, 2 Steve Thompson, 1 Phil Vickery
Reserves: Mike Catt, Jason Leonard, Iain Balshaw, Lewis Moody
Unused: Kyran Bracken, Martin Corry, Dorian West
Attendance: 83000
Referee: Watson a.
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