And so the extraordinary adventure is over. The most remarkable comeback in English sporting history has reached its amazing climax. Just five weeks ago, after South Africa thrashed England 36-0, the rugby pundits wrote that “England rugby is rotten” and “the chariot is destined for the scrapyard”. Well, the Stade de France last night was some scrapyard. The grumpy old yeomen of England had ground their way into the stadium with a dogged, curmudgeonly display of bulldog fighting spirit that should make every Briton’s chest a little bit more puffed out this morning. And we mean every Briton. For the spirit displayed by the England team was one that is reflected right across the British Isles. Sporting analogies can be taken too far, but England’s use of their limited abilities and their sheer bloody-mindedness is a characteristic that has shown itself throughout British history.

Like the Ashes victors of two years ago, or the World Cup winning team of 1966, the England team’s progress was a triumph of effort; blood, definitely, sweat, certainly, and plenty of tears. They were the antithesis of reigning world champions; they had gone into the tournament with the worst recent record of any top team. They were such underdogs that even dogs kept their distance. Four years ago Clive Woodward took his meticulously prepared team to Australia as the aristocrats of world rugby. Victory was expected. This time, Brian Ashton took a team to France that many thought would be a national embarrassment. That fear seemed to have been confirmed when they struggled to beat the lowly United States. But they came through and we admired them all the more for it, from Jonny Wilkinson’s Buddhist meditation to the menace of the gigantic prop Andrew Sheridan.

For South Africa, too, last night’s match was a moment in history. It could never have reached the heights of their victory in 1995, a time of hope and reconciliation. Then Nelson Mandela tore aside the bond between hard-line Afrikaners and rugby when he put on the green and gold shirt of the Springboks and said to the awestruck captain: “Thank you for what you’ve done for South Africa.” Francois Pienaar replied: “We could never do what you have done for South Africa” and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

Now the questions are being asked about when South Africa will start to fulfil its potential and when the rugby team will reflect the “rainbow” nation. Only two nonwhites were in its starting lineup last night and the political pressure for change is mounting. South Africa may soon have a black coach and many more black players; the Afrikaner dominance of the sport is gradually being consigned to history.

But that is for another day. After last night’s battle, England and South Africa can join in one celebration. On that memorable Parisian night, with the city awash with white and green and gold shirts in good-natured rivalry, they were there. Unlike, say, France, New Zealand or Australia.