THEY have been calling him the million-dollar man for his corporate earnings throughout the 2003 World Cup, but Jonny Wilkinson became precisely that to England last night. In the 102nd minute of the second extra-time final in the competition's history, the fly half dropped the goal that won the Webb Ellis Cup and gave England a new gold standard.
With nerves already stripped raw in the emotion of a final played in heavy drizzle at the Telstra Stadium, Wilkinson lined up the goal which brought the cup to the northern hemisphere for the first time. Matt Dawson, his half-back partner, made the crucial break from a ruck which gave England an attacking position in Australia's 22, Martin Johnson took it on and the fly half, sitting in a pocket some 30 metres from the posts, swung his right foot - his less-favoured foot - to make the sweetest connection in English rugby history.
But how their supporters, a white army in a crowd of 82,957, suffered on the way. They had watched their team achieve domination towards the end of the first half and a lead of 14-5 with a rhythm which Australia could not match. Then, in the second half, they seemed to step back from glory: a series of handling errors and penalties allowed Elton Flatley to kick his side back into contention, a team which held its nerve where others might have cracked.
The penalty which forced the game into extra time came in the fourth minute of added time, and England, who have already been labelled an aging side, had to dig their way back into a match they should have had won. Even then the verdict swung this way and that: Wilkinson nosed them into the lead with a penalty from 47 metres after David Giffin took Johnson out at a lineout, but once more, Flatley stepped up to the mark.
With the second period of extra time approaching its end, Lawrence Dallaglio was penalised for handling at a ruck and the Australia vice captain, from 30 metres, tied the scores once more. With the chips down and a dropped-goal contest looming, England found the resolve for one final push: with a technical competence they should have shown far earlier they set up a ruck 40 metres from the Australia line and Dawson darted off towards the history books.
It was a wonderful ending to a wonderful tournament which has been a credit to the host union. It confirms England's primacy in the game, but spare a thought for so brave an Australia side, which came together only late in the year, yet had the skill and strength to go toe to toe with so powerful and mature an England side.
It was they who struck the first blow, after waking to a day in which the rain streamed down the Sydney streets and God really did seem to be an Englishman. Yet those critics who believed England would revert to type and play a close-quarters game in such conditions were set on their heels from the start: they gave the ball as much width as Australia, and shrugged off the concession of a try as early as the seventh minute.
Even though England's scrum gave a hint of the edge they would develop, Stephen Larkham launched a high, hanging ball to the left wing, where Lote Tuqiri, leaping high above Jason Robinson, scored the try. Australia had little else to savour in the first half: they found themselves forced back by the discipline and invention of England's approach.
Phil Waugh, falling offside, provided Wilkinson with the first of his four penalty goals from 47 metres, a crucial kick from distance to give England impetus. A tackle off the ball by Larkham gave the fly half his second, and the lead, before Waugh, leaving a scrum close to his own line too early, gave Wilkinson his easiest kick, from 25 metres.
More to the point, England achieved an ascendancy at the lineout as Johnson and Ben Kay stole a stream of ball. Kay knocked on with the line at his mercy and when Mike Tindall ran through Wendell Sailor's tackle, England looked ready to race away; when Jason Robinson crossed in the left-hand corner after excellent approach work by Wilkinson, Dawson and Dallaglio, Australia were like a boxer hanging on for the bell.
But after the interval, England could not pick up the tempo; instead Dallaglio fell offside after Waugh stole away with an overthrown England lineout ball and Flatley gave his side hope where before there had seemed to be none. England did not lack for possession, but suddenly they became all too aware of the wet weather and a string of handling errors crept into their game.
At the same time their scrummaging irked Andre Watson to the extent that the referee penalised England six times in the second half and Australia only once. Australia called up the cavalry in the shape of forward replacements Jeremy Paul and Matt Cockbain, and when Phil Vickery was penalised at a ruck, Flatley found his target once again.
Still England were able to play the game primarily in the opposition half, but they could not score. Where he had found his range so consistently against France a week earlier, attempted dropped goals by Wilkinson flew wide, and when Trevor Woodman was penalised for standing up at a scrum, Flatley kicked an angled penalty from 24 metres to level the scores.
The stage was set for the denouement of an extraordinary game, a repetition of the extra-time final of 1995 in which South Africa beat New Zealand in Johannesburg, also with a dropped goal by Joel Stransky. The goal which finally clinched matters will be carved into the English psyche, since it brought the country their first world championship in a major team sport since Bobby Moore's footballers in 1966. How the rugby players will be received when they return home in triumph on Tuesday morning is hard to imagine but, from here, they look ready for a night, a week, a month of celebration.
SCORERS: Australia: Try: Tuqiri (7min). Penalty goals: Flatley 4 (48, 63, 80+4, extra 20). England: Tries: Robinson (40+5). Penalty goals: Wilkinson 4 (12, 23, 34; extra 2). Dropped goal: Wilkinson (extra 10+2)
SCORING SEQUENCE (Australia first): 5-0, 5-3, 5-6, 5-9, 5-14 (half-time), 8-14, 11-14, 14-14 (full time), 14-17, 17-17, 17-20.
AUSTRALIA: M Rogers; W Sailor (rep: J Roff, 73), S Mortlock, E Flatley, L Tuqiri; S Larkham (rep: M Giteau, 23-38, 56-66, extra 7-14), G Gregan (captain); W Young (rep: M Dunning (extra 13), B Cannon (rep: J Paul, 58), A Baxter, J Harrison, N Sharpe (rep: D Giffin, 49), G Smith, P Waugh, D Lyons (rep: M Cockbain, 58).
ENGLAND: J Robinson; J Lewsey (rep: I Balshaw, extra 7), W Greenwood, M Tindall (rep: M Catt, 80+2), B Cohen; J Wilkinson, M Dawson; T Woodman, S Thompson, P Vickery (rep: J Leonard, extra 1), M Johnson (captain), B Kay, R Hill (rep: L Moody, extra 15), N Back, L Dallaglio.
Referee: A Watson (South Africa)
