By Toni
October 10 2003

It's a real rarity for English sport, we all have to admit that. On the eve of rugby union's fifth World Cup, the English national team has a realistic chance of bringing home the trophy. The same sad situation happens every four years in football, those eternal optimists in the media ignoring the fact that England's footballing counterparts are streets behind some of soccer’s greater nations, firmly believing that this tournament for one reason or another, will see the football World Cup return to England.

It's been a long wait since 1966, but yet the footballers don't bring home the bacon, and a nation mourns.

England as a whole aren't too good sportingly. Tim Henman tries year after year, the press build him up but he fails at the final hurdle and is yet to win Wimbledon. Our cricketing team are a national joke. So please arise the Englishmen who actually have a hope in hell of winning, not just from the English media's point of view, but from the world's view. The winning games stand. Consecutive wins of the might of the Southern Hemisphere nations in the Autumn, a Grand Slam title against Ireland in March, beating both New Zealand and Australia on their own soil in the summer. The stage is set for what could be England's finest sporting triumph since that footballing win in '66, and by God it's been a long wait.

Rugby union has never been a hugely popular sport, nor is it one of the minorities. However, should England touch down at Heathrow airport at the end of November, the William Web Ellis trophy firmly in Martin Johnson's hands, England will rejoice. Everyone in England will be converted rugby fans over night. For those of us that have supported through the dark ages, the jubilation will be higher, for the England team have finally delivered what is rightfully there's. The people reading this - and indeed the person writing it - are the people who watched in shell-shocked silence at Wembley in 1999, who stared at their screens or the pitch in 2000 at Murrayfield, the ones' who were flabbergasted when Keith Wood crashed over for his match-winning try at Lansdowne Road in 2001.

The England rugby team have become what the country needs, a sporting team with more than just a chance of international success.

I am a romantic and my perception of the World Cup is not of it as a sporting tournament alone. A World Cup in any sport is special, I even sat down and watched Germany take on Brazil in the soccer World Cup last year, though I didn't have a clue what was going on. It's the same with the Olympics, be it summer or winter. You find yourself awake at 2am in the morning watching curling, or suddenly finding archery the most thrilling sport in the world. There is a buzz, a hype, a belief, something special about these huge tournaments that not only dominate the media but the public's conscious as a whole. "It's a world in union, a world as one,"

Welshie Shirley Bassey sang at the opening stages of the 1999 tournament, and she was right. The rugby union World Cup will be a joy to behold. The beauty of rugby, that is as true in some other sports, is that anything can happen. Who would have expected Ireland to lose to Argentina - who might be a good team now, but in 1999 were of almost minnow status - in Lens in 1999? Who honestly would have thought it conceivable that Jannie De Beer would step in for South Africa at the eleventh hour, and promptly ping over drop goal after drop goal to send England's '99 dream crashing to earth?

Jonah Lomu dominated in 1995, running over - literally - any player who made the mistake of trying to get in his way. France beat New Zealand in 1999 which was a score line that, to say the least, was most unexpected. Anything can happen, it's all about the team on the day and if their tactics and skills can mesh to create the perfect blend that will hopefully result in them lifting the trophy.

No one knows what this tournament will bring. Maybe Argentina will cause Irish eyes to not be shining, but crying once again, and ascend beyond their pool game in place of the men from the Emerald Isle. Maybe England will have a shocker against Georgia and it'll all come crashing down from above, confidence in tatters. Maybe New Zealand will find a new Jonah Lomu, their answer to a steamroller. Maybe we'll see another back row player pinging over a drop goal, a lock taking goal kicks! Oh hang on, the latter has been done before. Rugby is one of those sports' where you can have an inkling, but you can never be 100% sure until the final whistle has gone. World class players drop passes that cost tries, outstanding goal kickers miss important kicks, the world's best defender can miss a tackle. The unthinkable can, and sometimes does, happen.

I write from not just an English point of view, but a Northern Hemisphere one as well, this tournament is the first where we might actually see a Northern winner. New Zealand in 1987, South Africa in 1995 and Australia in both 1991 and 1999 - it's about time the Southern Hemisphere let go of that pretty golden pot and book it a flight across the equator.

In 1999 there were hopes, mainly English and French hopes, that a Northern victory may actually happen. Those were crushed in the quarter-finals (England) and the final (France) and the trophy travelled South once more. This time round, it's not just hopes. France are one hell of a team on their day, they can cut defences apart just as well as any New Zealand winger (unless, possibly, the New Zealand winger in question is that man Lomu), their set pieces are fantastic and they too have realistic hopes of lifting the trophy.

Ireland, also, have a chance. It might not be a great chance and they might need Lady Luck to don a green jersey for several matches, but it could happen. They came damn close against New Zealand last summer, and took one step further against Australia in the Autumn, notching up a historic victory. You can forgive the Irish for hoping that maybe this is their year, as though it may not be totally realistic to have a flutter on them, it's not throwing money down the drain either.

Then there is England, the team the Southerners just love to hate, love to beat and hate to lose to. However, the latter has been more of a regular occurrence since the last tournament. First came the summer tour to South Africa, where a video referee - who was quite clearly in need of a trip to Specsavers - disallowed what would have been a winning try for Tim Stimpson in the first test. In the second test, England notched up a victory through Jonny Wilkinson, who was just beginning to show his class. The England team who played in that second test estimate they lost 6lbs in fluid loss during that game, but they gained a vital win on Southern soil.

The Autumn of the same year brought test victories against South Africa and Australia. Will anyone who saw that game ever forget about Iain Balshaw's chip, Dan Luger's subsequent match winning try in the final play of the game? One doubts the Australians' ever will. If you watch that game back, you can see the looks of disbelief on the Australian's faces as Dan Luger crashes down on the ball. The video referee awarded a try and England had won. Things were looking good.

A Six Nations disappointment in 2001 followed, with foot-and-mouth disease causing the Ireland/England game to be postponed until October. When it was played, England were simply outclassed by a determined Irish effort. Safe for a loss to Scotland the week before, Ireland would have been the first Six Nations Grand Slam champions. England made up for it in the Autumn, beating more Southern hemisphere nations, and things began to look brighter again.

Following a heartbreaking disappointment in Paris during the Six Nations in 2002, where even Austin Healey's late score was not enough, the English had to sit back and watch France be crowned the first Grand Slam champions since Five became Six.

That must have twisted the knife, as in the summer of 2002 England's untried and untested youngsters flew out to Beunos Aires and notched up a historic victory against Argentina. The confidence the big guns must have got from watching that game stayed with the squad, and we all know what happened during the Autumn of the same year. First up, New Zealand. Not a good performance by any means, but some classic moments in Ben Cohen's swallow dive to score his extraordinary solo try, Jonny Wilkinson's chip for Jason Robinson that he collected and scored from himself, Ben Kay's match saving lineout steal at the death will all go down in history. It is the score line however that will stand, an English victory over the All Blacks.

Next up Australia, a better performance and some real character from the English boys to bring a nailbiting game to a close with them the
winners by an entire, hard worked for, point. Excusing the violence the next game against South Africa was marred with, surely any side would take a 53 points to 3 thumping of the South Africans; England did and did it in style.

And so the year 2002 finished where England had gone unbeaten, apart from that day in Paris which cost them the Grand Slam. That could almost be forgotten though in the aftermath of their win against the Southerners in the Autumn. 2003 dawned and so did a Six Nations campaign, but more importantly, a World Cup year. Safe for the loss to France in Marseilles last month, England have once again gone unbeaten going in to this Autumn, where the final prize awaits.

They've done it all now, this England team. A Grand Slam, a Six Nations title, beating the three Southern Hemisphere nations - and Argentina - on their home soil. They have players of true world class in Jonny Wilkinson, Martin Johnson, Lawrence Dallaglio, Ben Cohen et al. They have a coach who had a belief, a vision of the heights he wanted to elevate England to, and Clive Woodward has done just that. From the high-tech shirts to the torturous sounding ice baths in training, this England team are ready.

In previous World Cup tournaments, they have not been ready. The confidence is not high enough, the coaching not of a good enough standard, the players not good enough to cut it. Yet now, everything is in place, the final 30 have been selected and the opening match against Georgia awaits.

It will be a long, hard road to the final on November 22nd, but I believe that England can do it. However, the most important thing is not what I believe, or what other fans believe, nor does it matter what the media think. The crucial point is that, for the first time ever, the England team and management believe. They want to win, they can win, and they think they will win. It might be the slogan for Guiness, but nothing is more appropriate for the England team at the moment.

Imagine it's November 22nd, it's England vs. New Zealand, the score sheet stands and the final whistle goes.



Who raises their arms in celebration?


Believe.