England claim World Cup in extra time

1.35am - By DYLAN THOMSEN

ENGLAND 20 AUSTRALIA 17

The enormous roar of the English supporters said it all as Jonny Wilkinson bowed his head to receive a Rugby World Cup winners medal at Telstra Stadium this morning.

In a final to rival the drama of the All Blacks' loss to South Africa in 1995, Wilkinson sealed an English victory in the dying stages of extra time with, what else but a drop goal.

England led 14-5 early in the second half at a Telstra Stadium packed with massive blocks of yellow and white clad fans in Sydney.

However, two Australian penalties had cut the lead to 14-11 with 20 minutes to go and then, right on fulltime, second five Elton Flatley stepped up and banged over another from 20m out and 15m to the right of the posts to tie things up 14-14.

That sent the match into two 10-minute halves of extra time and the English retook the lead 17-14 within the first minute when Wilkinson slotted a massive 45m penalty from just inside the right touchline.

It looked like that might be enough to seal victory as the score remained unchanged until eight minutes into the second spell.

However, just like in regulation time, the Wallabies won another penalty with two minutes to play and Flatley delivered under the massive pressure to lock the score back up 17-17.

At that stage it looked like the game was headed to a third, sudden-death period of extra time but, cometh the hour, cometh the Wilkinson.

England got the ball back from the restart and worked their way into drop goal position for the unflappable first five to snatch glory as he sent the ball flying between the posts with less than a minute on the clock.

Australia had time to kick off but England secured the ball and punted it into touch to win the World Cup for the first time.

It was Wilkinson's fourth drop goal attempt, having missed his first three.

The Wallabies got off to a perfect start in the match, with winger Lote Tuqiri climbing high for a cross field bomb and dotting down the opening try in the seventh minute.

However, that was to be their only points of the first half as England started to take control.

They kept the Wallabies trapped in their own territory with superb defence and, unable to make yards running the ball, the Australians would end up either losing possession or having to kick it away.

Any Wallaby infringements on defence were then punished by the boot of Wilkinson and he kicked three penalties to put England ahead 9-5 after 28 minutes.

Just before the break they extended their lead to 14-5 when winger Jason Robinson scored England's only try.

From a ruck 37m out, England spun the ball wide on the left and No 8 Lawrence Dallaglio drew in two tacklers then offloaded to Wilkinson on the inside.

Wilkinson looped a pass back outside to Robinson and he sped into the left corner.

Despite a nightmare night for the Australian lineout, losing their own throw-ins again and again, Australia fought back to keep England scoreless in the second spell and send the match into extra time thanks to three penalties from Flatley.

It was a fitting finale for the clash, with neither side ever managing to dominate for any length of time as both defended superbly.