10 years on: England’s World Cup glory

‘Wilkinson, still in place for the drop goal. Australia come back. Here it is for Jonny. Has he done it? He sure has! Heartbreaker for the Wallabies! Seconds remaining, and that surely is the stairway to rugby heaven for England!’

England had done it. Thirty-seven years of sporting heartbreak was over. To quote the commentator on that triumphant night, ‘England has joined Sir Alf Ramsay’s immortals of 1966.’

I was elated but at the same time I could not believe it: we had won the Rugby World Cup. It was Saturday 22^nd November 2003 and, as the players prepared for extra-time, I was pacing up and down my living room. The only thought that was running through my head was ‘We aren’t going to win.’

By the end of the game however, not only had we become world champions, and with it won the Webb Ellis Cup, but we had beaten the Australians in their own back yard.

My hero, the England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson, had won it for us.

But this victory was not just an overnight success, as years of preparation had gone into making England real contenders to eventually lift the greatest prize in rugby. Sir Clive Woodward took over as head coach of the England team in 1997, and after a disappointing exit in the quarter-finals of the 1999 Rugby World Cup thanks to an incredible five drop goals by South African fly-half Jannie de Beer, all eyes were on the Rugby World Cup 2003 hosted by Australia.

Between those two World Cups, England had come close to being crowned Grand Slam champions in 2000, 2001 and 2002. Despite this, they were strong favourites to claim a clean sweep of victories going into the 2003 tournament after a highly successful autumn campaign in 2002 which saw them defeat the ‘Big Three’ nations of New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.

The anticipation was such that anything other than winning the Grand Slam would have been considered an unsuccessful tournament. Thankfully, after impressive victories over France and Wales and convincing triumphs against Italy and Scotland, England dealt Ireland a crushing 42-6 defeat in Dublin, winning the Grand Slam in heroic style.

Having secured the 2003 RBS Six Nations in such dominant fashion, the focus turned to the challenging Tests in June against New Zealand and Australia.

Success against these teams would give England back-to-back victories against two of world rugby’s most revered opponents, and cement their status as real contenders to lift the Webb Ellis Cup later that year.

England were successful in their quest to secure these away victories and soon, the Rugby World Cup was only just around the corner.

After three further Test matches against Wales and France (twice), the 30-man squad was finally compiled and, along with their numerous support staff, they departed for Australia with the next few weeks set to be the most important in their careers.

England had done it. Thirty-seven years of sporting heartbreak was over. To quote the commentator on that triumphant night, ‘England has joined Sir Alf Ramsay’s immortals of 1966.’

Having secured victories in all four of their Pool C matches against Georgia, South Africa, Samoa and Uruguay, England progressed to the quarter-finals. It was here that they faced old rivals Wales in a gruelling encounter.

They were given a shock in the first half as Wales took the lead, inspired by the brilliance of Shane Williams and a try from Colin Charvis. England soon pulled back however, winning the match 28-17, thanks to a try from centre Will Greenwood and twenty-three points from Wilkinson’s boot.

England were through to the semi-finals and were two victories away from being crowned World Champions. Firstly, they had to overcome the French in the fourth encounter between the sides that year: the match pretty much went to plan for England as they won by 24-7.

Wilkinson scored all the points in the match that led England to their second Rugby World Cup final. Playing against Australia in Sydney, the men in white had the opportunity to avenge their defeat to the Wallabies in the World Cup Final twelve years earlier at Twickenham.

As kick-off approached, the two captains, Martin Johnson and George Gregan, led their teams out onto the battlefield in front of a record World Cup crowd of 82,957 in Sydney’s Telstra Stadium. The atmosphere was electric, particularly as the upcoming encounter would pit two bitter rivals against each other in a match that would ultimately define the careers of those involved.

It wasn’t long before Australia took the lead, with a try on six minutes from winger Lote Tuqiri. At this point my heart was pounding. Although deep down I knew England’s boys had what it would take to put this match beyond their southern hemisphere opposition, I was nervous that once Australia had scored they would continue to dominate the score board and England would fall behind.

Safely in his hands, Wilkinson dropped it to the ground and with his unfavoured right foot he struck the ball. There were just twenty-six seconds remaining as the ball sailed through the posts to a rapturous response from the England supporters

However, Wilkinson’s boot dictated play and England led 9-5 after twenty-eight minutes. As half-time approached with only four points separating these two giants of world rugby, the match was on a knife-edge.

It was England that made the crucial breakthrough. Their speedy winger Jason Robinson, known in the rugby world as ‘Billy Whizz’, dived over in the left-hand corner to score his fourth try of the tournament, putting England in a comfortable position with a 14-5 lead at the break.

The second half did not go as England had planned, with Johnson’s men being constantly penalised at the scrum, allowing Australia to level the score at 14-14 as the whistle blew for full time. With nothing separating the teams at the final whistle, another twenty minutes of gruelling rugby lay in store.

The first period of extra time began with a superb Wilkinson penalty to put England 14-17 ahead, but there were no further scores until the ninety-seventh minute, when Australia levelled through an Elton Flatley penalty.

With three minutes to go, both teams knew that something spectacular had to be done, and quickly, to ensure that it was their country’s name that was engraved on rugby’s greatest prize. Thankfully, it was England who had the initiative as they took advantage of an attacking line-out on ninety-nine minutes.

The Steve Thompson line-out made its way to Lewis Moody at the tail, and Matt Dawson eventually took possession of the ball, making a darting run through the middle of the park and right into the Australain twenty-two. The ball then made its way to captain Martin Johnson who went to ground, crucially allowing scrum-half Matt Dawson to get back on his feet and return to his usuual position.

With Wilkinson in the pocket, Dawson spun the ball out to the right. Safely in his hands, Wilkinson dropped it to the ground and with his unfavoured right foot he struck the ball. There were just twenty-six seconds remaining as the ball sailed through the posts to a rapturous response from the England supporters.

As Australia restarted the match, England’s prop Trevor Woodman was the unlikely receiver. The ball made its way to England centre Mike Catt who emphatically kicked to touch, and the referee blew his whistle, bringing to a close an exhilarating 100 minutes of world class rugby.

England had finally done it. Thirty-seven years of sporting heartbreak was over. England were world champions, and rightly so, victorious by the three points from Jonny Wilkinson’s drop goal, a kick that will go down in history as one of England’s greatest sporting moments.

Ecstatic, the players began their celebrations on the pitch as ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot’ boomed around the stadium once more. Captain Martin Johnson then stepped forward to receive the Webb Ellis Cup, a just reward for all those years of hard work to reach the summit of world rugby.

In a post-match interview Martin Johnson said, ‘Wilko at the end. I can’t say enough about him…and right at the death, you’d have no-one else there would you?’ I am sure, that after that glorious night in Sydney, few would beg to differ.