England fall at the Final Hurdle in Paris
22nd October, 2007
South Africa were crowned Rugby Wold Cup Champions 2007 on Saturday after defeating the holders England. The tense final finished 15-6 in a game with no tries, in a distinct battle of territory. After losing 36-0 to South Africa in the group stages of the World Cup, nobody expected England to even challenge for the title, but for the last three games, a different squad turned up to challenge the favourites each time. Defeating the likes of Australia and the hosts France was not something to even be considered by the England team of a month ago, the so called ‘worst world champions ever’.
Much of the talk is of the ‘try that never was’, as Cueto went over the line to score what looked to be a World Cup-winning try, before the video assistant judged the player to have gone into touch before placing the ball down. The normally unflappable Jonny Wilkinson also missed chances that we would otherwise expect him to convert. It cannot be said that England deserved to win, and the vastly improved performances that England produced have since been applauded by many.
England will now look onwards with the knowledge that they can produce some quality rugby, with the Six Nations the next obvious target. Since the World Cup, England have been installed as second favourites behind France, at around 3/1.
