One of the truly great contests

By WYNNE GRAY at the World Cup

SYDNEY - So much for England winning a boring World Cup final.

The men in white triumphed in a match which might have been the most dramatic in the celebrated history of international rugby.

It would certainly be right up there with the 1995 South Africa-New Zealand extra-time climax in Johannesburg and the 1981 Springboks-All Blacks flour-bomb test in Auckland, because of the circumstances, pressure and tension of the occasion.

Saturday night's 20-17 win to England was strewn with equal dollops of errors and trauma because the stakes were enormous.

England were shooting for their first cup and the first victory for a Northern Hemisphere side; a third Wallaby victory would have allowed them to keep the golden trophy.

For both sides, the gap between jubilation and desolation was measured by Jonny Wilkinson's less-favoured right foot and 24 seconds.

As thoughts turned to a further 10 minutes of time and a golden-point decision, the angelic assassin dropped his eighth and most vital goal of the tournament.

It was his solitary drop-goal success on a wet and wild Sydney day.

Three other attempts in normal and extra time had gone astray, all on his preferred left foot.

But 24 seconds before referee Andre Watson would have called it quits and sent the sides into golden-point torture, Wilkinson made the strike which reverberated louder than Big Ben - and the Barmy Army went potty.

Victory ended a 37-year drought of England international team sporting success, since they claimed the 1966 soccer World Cup, and drove a dagger through the brave hearts of the Wallabies.

"It was frustrating to see a couple go wide and in the end I just had to make sure it [the winning attempt] hit my foot," Wilkinson said. "It was a long game, wasn't it? We knew we had to hang in there. I didn't want the game to go to a drop-goal competition."

When Wilkinson's drop goal snaked over, England knew they were winners of the fifth World Cup. There was no time for the Wallabies to reply.

No time for more heroics from Elton Flatley, who had kicked a penalty on the bell to send the game into overtime. He could dwell on two other kicks, a conversion which hit the woodwork and stayed out, and a 45-metre penalty which scraped the underside of the bar.

They might have brought an unlikely win, but this final will still be remembered for the tenacity of the Wallabies, the resilience and intelligence they bring to their play.

"He is one out of the box, Jonny Wilkinson, he is fantastic," beaten coach Eddie Jones conceded.

You could only imagine what emotions the players went through at Telstra Stadium after being taken through an agonising 100-minute journey.

The battle-scarred warrior captain of England, Martin Johnson, could not stop moving.

This massive man, blood seeping from a wound high on his nose, and the rest of his face sporting numerous grazes, was exultant and exuberant.

Wilkinson had a few words with his opposite first five-eighth, Stephen Larkham, congratulated his mates, but then stayed in the background as his more extrovert team-mates went into overdrive.

When England were called to the winners' rostrum, Wilkinson was wedged between Mike Catt and Richard Hill. It was hard to spot him, but when he and coach Clive Woodward were given their winners' medals, they received huge cheers.

Then as Johnson raised the Webb Ellis Cup, golden replica paper cut-outs of the trophy rained down on the crowd of 82,957.

Veteran flanker Neil Back carried his young daughter as England's squad posed for the world's photographers before they began their laps of honour.

Fiesty halfback Matt Dawson even had time to re-enact the first-half misadventure when Ben Kay dropped a pass with the tryline under his eyelids. Second time round, Kay caught the pass and flopped over, to the mirth of his mates.

The concrete mixers of the front-row sprayed anyone they could find with magnums of bubbly and beer, while the Wallabies trailed behind as Swing Low Sweet Chariot boomed out of the stadium loudspeakers.

Wallaby skipper George Gregan was the last of his side to leave the field.

As he meandered across, his path coincided with Prime Minister John Howard and ARU chief executive John O'Neill.

The trio embraced and commiserated, the wistful nodding of their heads signalling what might have been.

Further on, Gregan cut through the England parade, slapped reserve opponent Kyran Bracken on the backside and responded to the applause of the home-town supporters.

Later, Gregan said he was off on annual leave and was not making any statements about his rugby future. Three hours after kickoff, England eventually returned to their dressing rooms as the stadium music changed to We Are the Champions.

Josh Lewsey was in tears, Mike Tindall was wearing a Santa Claus hat, Phil Vickery was draped in his nation's flag and Lawrence Dallaglio gesticulated to the fans.

Wilkinson allowed himself a huge smile and a clenched fist to the stands as he disappeared into the tunnel.

It had been an occasion to applaud, an intoxicating World Cup evening, a game as dramatic as one at Rugby in 1823 when William Webb Ellis picked up the ball and ran with it.

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