Jonny Wilkinson was the hero for England with all of their points in a 24-7 defeat of France at a rain lashed Telstra Stadium in Sydney that ended their 12 year wait for a second Rugby World Cup final appearance.
The England fly half won the battle of the kickers with Frédéric Michalak, collecting three drop goals, two of them with his ‘wrong’ right foot, and five penalties to give England the chance to avenge the 12-6 defeat in the 1991 final by Australia at Twickenham.
Wilkinson’s haul took his tally for the Tournament to 98 points, five shy of the benchmark of Michalak, who had a poor night with the boot, missing four penalties before he was hauled off with 17 minutes remaining in favour of Gerald Merceron.
England adapted better to the terrible conditions, and the French ill-discipline was a factor, with both wing Christophe Dominici and flanker Serge Betsen sin binned.
Dominici was first to see Paddy O’Brien’s yellow card, the wing tripping Jason Robinson in the 23rd minute and injuring himself in the process so Clement Poitrenaud ultimately replaced him.
Betsen had scored the only try of the match in the 10th minute, but then turned villain when, having been warned by referee O’Brien for not rolling away, he took Wilkinson out with a late tackle in the 53rd minute.
Passions ran high with such a prize at stake and there were a few minor confrontations in the opening minutes, England prop Phil Vickery having to leave the field with blood coming from his nose in the fifth minute.
This merely allowed Jason Leonard onto the field for his 112th cap to surpass the previous record of French centre Philippe Sella who, ironically, made his last appearance against England in the 1995 RWC third/fourth place playoff.
France committed an error deep in their own 22 when their scrum pushed before the ball was put in, giving England a free kick which they worked through a couple of phases before Wilkinson kicked a drop goal with his right foot in the ninth minute.
The heavens opened in Sydney, just as they had done two hours before kick off when temperatures halved to 16 degrees celsius, as Michalak converted Betsen’s early try – his only successful kick of the night.
Michalak then missed with his first two penalty attempts, the second coming after England captain Martin Johnson, making his record 17th consecutive RWC appearance, infringed again in the ruck.
England went in 12-7 ahead at half time and the pressure seemed to be getting to both kickers in the first 10 minutes of the second period with Wilkinson missing two penalties to one by his opposite number Michalak.
England had been criticised for their performances to this point, but lived up to their billing as pre Tournament favourites and retiring French captain Fabien Galthié admitted immediately afterwards that “the best team won the match”.
France: 7
Tries: Betsen
Conversions: Michalak
England: 24
Penalties: Wilkinson (5)
Drop goals: Wilkinson (3)