2003 Rugby World Cup Final
Encyclopedia
The 2003 Rugby World Cup
2003 Rugby World Cup
The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup and was won by England. Originally planned to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the New Zealand Rugby Football Union and Rugby World...

 Final
was won by England
England national rugby union team
The England national rugby union team represents England in rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, and Wales. They have won this championship on 26 occasions, 12 times winning the Grand Slam, making them the most successful team in...

 who defeated Australia
Australia national rugby union team
The Australian national rugby union team is the representative side of Australia in rugby union. The national team is nicknamed the Wallabies and competes annually with New Zealand and South Africa in the Tri-Nations Series, in which they also contest the Bledisloe Cup with New Zealand and the...

 20 to 17. The match went into extra time, in which Jonny Wilkinson
Jonny Wilkinson
Jonathan Peter "Jonny" Wilkinson OBE is an English rugby union player and member of the England national team. Wilkinson rose to acclaim from 2001 to 2003, before and during the 2003 Rugby World Cup and was acknowledged as one of the world’s best rugby players...

 kicked a drop goal to seal England's win.

Path to the final

Australia opened the 2003 Rugby World Cup at Telstra Stadium in Sydney, where they beat Argentina 24–8. The next two pool games were against tier 3 nations Romania and Namibia. The match against Namibia resulted in a 142–0 smashing. The last pool match was against Ireland at Telstra Dome in Melbourne, where the Wallabies escaped with a one point win, 17–16. They finished clearly on top of their pool, with 18 table points and a massive for and against.

England were in Pool C, and kicked off their campaign with an 84–6 win over Georgia, which was then followed by a match against their biggest opposition in the pool, South Africa. However, England beat the Springboks 25–6. Their third pool match against Samoa was a lot closer, England winning 35–22. Their final pool match was against Uruguay, which England won 111–13. England finished first in their pool, four table points ahead of the Springboks.

Australia met Scotland in the quarter finals at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, and beat them 33–16 to go through to the semis, where they would take on their old rivals, the All Blacks. England beat Wales in their quarter final, 28–17, and went through to meet France in the semis. The Wallabies prevailed 22–10 over New Zealand at Telstra Stadium. The following day England beat France 24–7 at the same venue.

First half

Kick-off was preceded by performances including Kate Ceberano
Kate Ceberano
Kate Ceberano is an Australian singer. She achieved success in the soul, jazz and pop genres as well as in her brief forays into musicals with Jesus Christ Superstar and film...

 singing True Colours (a theme throughout the World Cup), the Sydney's Children Choir and the Rugby World Choir singing the Rugby World Cup's official theme song, World in Union
World in Union (song)
"World in Union", with lyrics by Charlie Skarbek, is a theme song for the Rugby World Cup that attempts to capture the spirit of international friendship which pervades rugby union culture the world over....

. Following these performances, the traditional national anthems were performed by Australia (Advance Australia Fair
Advance Australia Fair
"Advance Australia Fair" is the official national anthem of Australia. Created by the Scottish-born composer, Peter Dodds McCormick, the song was first performed in 1878, but did not gain its status as the official anthem until 1984. Until then, the song was sung in Australia as a patriotic song...

) and England (God Save the Queen
God Save the Queen
"God Save the Queen" is an anthem used in a number of Commonwealth realms and British Crown Dependencies. The words of the song, like its title, are adapted to the gender of the current monarch, with "King" replacing "Queen", "he" replacing "she", and so forth, when a king reigns...

).

The first points of the final were scored by Australia, in six minutes , Lote Tuqiri outjumped the much shorter Jason Robinson
Jason Robinson
Jason Thorpe Robinson OBE is an English former international rugby union and rugby league player of the 1990s and 2000s. Playing at wing or fullback, he won fifty-one rugby union international test caps in total for England, and in rugby league he won twelve caps for Great Britain and seven for...

 and scored a try, following a sensational cross field kick from Wallabie fly-half Stephen Larkham
Stephen Larkham
Stephen Larkham is an Australian rugby union footballer currently playing for the Ricoh Black Rams in Japan. He is best known for his career with the Brumbies in Super Rugby, for whom he played from the inception of the professional Super 12 in 1996 through 2007, and his long tenure with the...

 , the conversion unsuccessfully crashed against a post . Jonny Wilkinson
Jonny Wilkinson
Jonathan Peter "Jonny" Wilkinson OBE is an English rugby union player and member of the England national team. Wilkinson rose to acclaim from 2001 to 2003, before and during the 2003 Rugby World Cup and was acknowledged as one of the world’s best rugby players...

 kicked a penalty goal for England in the 11th minute, bringing the score to 5–3. A further penalty goal by Wilkinson in the 20th minute took England into the lead , 6–5. In the 28th minute, following a Wallabies infringement imperious Wilkinson slotted a penalty to make it 9–5 . Following a flowing attacking move involving English forwards and backs Robinson slid into the corner for a try for England in the 38th minute . England led at half-time 14–5 .

Second half

Flatley kicked a penalty goal for Australia at the 47th minute, following the England scrummage being penalized by referee Andre Watson taking the score to 14–8. With England dominant in possession but lacking in finishing Wilkinson made a number of unsuccessful drop goal attempts . England's forwards were again penalized by Watson in the 61st minute, Flatley kicked the penalty goal for Australia . England's world cup dream was in the balance in the final quarter with only 3 points separating the teams . England were again to suffer when Flatley kicked a penalty goal on the 80th minute, taking the score to 14-all, and the match headed into extra-time.

Extra Time

With nerves frayed among both sides and the thousands of fans in the Telstra Stadium Wilkinson and Flatley both scored penalties to put the score at a tantalising 17–17. After having the ball returned to England from a Mat Rogers
Mat Rogers
Matthew S. "Mat" Rogers is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer of the 1990s and 2000s. He also played rugby union at the highest levels, becoming a dual-code international. The son of the late Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks legend and CEO Steve Rogers, Mat played for the Sharks...

 kick, and with 26 seconds on the clock, Wilkinson kicked a final drop goal and England won their first Rugby World Cup 17–20.

Match details

|
style="font-size: 90%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> Australia
FB 15 Mat Rogers
Mat Rogers
Matthew S. "Mat" Rogers is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer of the 1990s and 2000s. He also played rugby union at the highest levels, becoming a dual-code international. The son of the late Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks legend and CEO Steve Rogers, Mat played for the Sharks...

RW 14 Wendell Sailor
Wendell Sailor
Wendell Jermaine Sailor is an Australian former professional rugby football player who represented his country in both rugby league and rugby union – a dual code international. He is an Australian Torres Strait Islander.Sailor's large frame and bullocking style changed the way wingers played rugby...

 
OC 13 Stirling Mortlock
Stirling Mortlock
Stirling Austin Mortlock is an Australian professional rugby union player. He has scored over 1,000 points in Super Rugby, and nearly 500 test points for the Wallabies. Mortlock is a former Wallaby and Brumbies captain, and the current captain of the Melbourne Rebels.-Early life:Mortlock began...

IC 12 Elton Flatley
Elton Flatley
Elton Flatley is a former Australian international rugby union footballer. At his best position of fly-half, Flatley was often able to dictate the game by kicking tactically or throwing simple passes in order to retain possession.Flatley tended to play internationally at centre...

LW 11 Lote Tuqiri
FH 10 Stephen Larkham
Stephen Larkham
Stephen Larkham is an Australian rugby union footballer currently playing for the Ricoh Black Rams in Japan. He is best known for his career with the Brumbies in Super Rugby, for whom he played from the inception of the professional Super 12 in 1996 through 2007, and his long tenure with the...

 
SH 9 George Gregan
George Gregan
George Musarurwa Gregan AM is an Australian rugby union halfback who has made more appearances for his national team than any other player in the sport's history....

 (c
Captain (sports)
In team sports, a captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field...

)
N8 8 David Lyons
David Lyons
David Lyons plays Number Eight for the Wallabies.-Playing career:From his debut in 2000 Lyons played 83 consecutive games for Waratahs, a record for Australian players. His run ended when a knee injury forced him to miss the start of the 2007 season...

 
OF 7 Phil Waugh
Phil Waugh
Phillip Waugh is an Australian rugby union player, widely regarded as one of the world's leading flankers.His career as a player began at the Shore School, Captaining the school's team in 1997...

BF 6 George Smith
George Smith (rugby player)
George Smith is an Australian rugby union player. He is a flanker for Toulon. He won 110 caps for Australia before retiring from international rugby on 5 February 2010. He made his Test debut in 2000 against France in Paris and he is the most capped Wallaby forward, and the most capped flanker in...

RL 5 Nathan Sharpe
Nathan Sharpe
Nathan Sharpe is an Australian rugby union player. He plays lock and is the captain of the Western Force.-Early career:...

 
LL 4 Justin Harrison
Justin Harrison
Justin Harrison, born 20 April 1974 in Sydney, is a former Australian international rugby union player, who played lock forward as is currently forwards coach for Brumbies.-Career:...

TP 3 Al Baxter
Al Baxter
Al Baxter is an Australian rugby union player. He currently plays for the Waratahs in the Super 14. He played in the 2003 and 2007 Rugby World Cups, but was not selected for the 2011 squad.-Career:...

HK 2 Brendan Cannon
Brendan Cannon
Brendan Cannon is a former Australian rugby union footballer who played for the national team, The Wallabies and three Australian teams in the Super 12 and Super 14 competitions....

 
LP 1 Bill Young
Bill Young (rugby player)
Bill Young is an Australian former rugby union footballer. He played rugby for the Brumbies in the international Super 14 competition played for Australia over 40 times. Standing at 1.88m and weighing in at 115kg, Young is a loosehead prop...

 
Replacements:
HK 16 Jeremy Paul
Jeremy Paul
Jeremy Paul is a New Zealand-born Australia rugby union player. He played hooker and prop for the wallabies and the ACT Brumbies.At the end of 2005, Paul was awarded the John Eales Medal, receiving 194 votes from his teammates...

 
PR 17 Matt Dunning
Matt Dunning
Matt Dunning is an Australian rugby union footballer. He was educated at Northholm Grammar School and represented New South Wales and Australian Schools, U19s and U21s. Dunning plays club rugby for Eastwood and has represented the New South Wales Waratahs in the Super 14 since 2001...

 
LK 18 David Giffin
David Giffin
David Giffin is a former vice-captain of the Wallabies in rugby union, where he played in the lock position. Queensland-born, he played most of his professional career with the ACT Brumbies in what was then the Super 12. At this level, he earned 81 caps - earning a further 49 at international level...

 
N8 19 Matt Cockbain
Matt Cockbain
Matt Cockbain is an Australian rugby union footballer. He played over 60 times for the national team, the Wallabies. He made his debut for Australia in 1997 in Brisbane, in a Test match against France....

 
SH 20 Chris Whitaker
Chris Whitaker
Chris Whitaker is a retired Australian rugby union footballer. He is a much acclaimed scrum-half for Leinster in Ireland. He previously played for the New South Wales Waratahs, a state team representing New South Wales in the Super 14....

FH 21 Matt Giteau
Matt Giteau
Matthew Giteau is an Australian rugby union footballer, a former international who now plays for the French Top 14 side Toulon. He attended St Edmund's College, Canberra, which has produced other Wallabies including George Gregan, Matt Henjak and the former rugby league star and now coach Ricky...

 
WG 22 Joe Roff
Joe Roff
Joe Roff is a retired Australian rugby union footballer and a product of the Tuggeranong Vikings Rugby Union Club in Canberra, who played on the wing or at fullback for Brumbies and Australia and played 5 tests as a centre in the early part of his test career...

 
Coach:
 Australia Eddie Jones
style="font-size: 90%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> England | FB 15 Josh Lewsey
Josh Lewsey
Owen Joshua Lewsey MBE is a former English rugby union footballer who played fullback, wing or centre for Wasps.-Career:...

RW 14 Jason Robinson
Jason Robinson
Jason Thorpe Robinson OBE is an English former international rugby union and rugby league player of the 1990s and 2000s. Playing at wing or fullback, he won fifty-one rugby union international test caps in total for England, and in rugby league he won twelve caps for Great Britain and seven for...

IC 12 Mike Tindall
Mike Tindall
Michael James Tindall, MBE is an English rugby player who plays outside centre for Gloucester Rugby and has captained the England team...

  OC 13 Will Greenwood
Will Greenwood
William John Heaton "Will" Greenwood, MBE is an English former rugby union footballer of the 1990s and 2000s.-Career:...

LW 11 Ben Cohen
Ben Cohen (rugby player)
Benjamin Christopher "Ben" Cohen, MBE is a former England rugby union international. He began his professional career with Northampton Saints in 1996; in 2007 he moved to France to represent Brive before returning to England two years later to join Sale Sharks...

FH 10 Jonny Wilkinson
Jonny Wilkinson
Jonathan Peter "Jonny" Wilkinson OBE is an English rugby union player and member of the England national team. Wilkinson rose to acclaim from 2001 to 2003, before and during the 2003 Rugby World Cup and was acknowledged as one of the world’s best rugby players...

SH 9 Matt Dawson
Matt Dawson
Matthew James Sutherland "Daws" Dawson, MBE is a retired English rugby union player who played scrum half for Wasps and Northampton Saints. During his international career he toured with the British and Irish Lions three times and was part of England's 2003 Rugby World Cup winning side...

N8 8 Lawrence Dallaglio
Lawrence Dallaglio
Lorenzo Bruno Nero "Lawrence" Dallaglio, OBE is a retired English rugby union player and former captain of the English national team. He played as a flanker or number eight for London Wasps and never played for another club, having arrived at Sudbury as a teenager...

OF 7 Neil Back
Neil Back
Neil Antony Back is a former international rugby union footballer for England, who also played for Leicester Tigers, and captained both England and Leicester during his career....

BF 6 Richard Hill
Richard Hill (flanker)
Richard Hill MBE is a former rugby union footballer who played flanker for Saracens and England.Often portrayed as the 'silent assassin' at both club and international level, his effective and abrasive style of forward play has made him legendary in rugby union circles...

  RL 5 Ben Kay
Ben Kay
Benedict James Kay MBE is a retired English international rugby union footballer who played Second row forward for Leicester Tigers and .-Background:...

LL 4 Martin Johnson (c
Captain (sports)
In team sports, a captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field...

) TP 3 Phil Vickery
Phil Vickery (rugby player)
Philip John Vickery MBE is a former English rugby union tighthead prop and member of the England squad. He was a member of England's World Cup winning squad in 2003, playing in all seven matches in the tournament, and is a former England captain. Vickery ended his club rugby career at Wasps,...

  HK 2 Steve Thompson
Steve Thompson (rugby player)
Steve Thompson MBE is a rugby union player who plays at hooker for London Wasps and England.He is England's most capped hooker, and has played for the British and Irish Lions.-Northampton Saints:...

LP 1 Trevor Woodman
Trevor Woodman
Trevor James Woodman MBE is a former English rugby union footballer. He went to Liskeard School in Cornwall and won representative honours with Cornwall Under 16s....

Replacements: HK 16 Dorian West
Dorian West
Dorian Edward West MBE nicknamed "Nobby" is a former English international rugby union footballer.Born in Wrexham, his family moved to England when he was young...

PR 17 Jason Leonard
Jason Leonard
Jason Leonard OBE , also known as "The Fun Bus", is an English former rugby union prop forward who held the world record for winning the most international caps until 2005, when it was surpassed by Australia's scrum-half George Gregan...

  LK 18 Martin Corry FL 19 Lewis Moody
Lewis Moody
Lewis Walton Moody MBE is an English rugby union rugby player who currently plays for Bath Rugby and was part of the 2003 World Cup winning side. He is renowned for his commitment to the physical aspects of the game....

  SH 20 Kyran Bracken
Kyran Bracken
Kyran Paul Patrick Bracken MBE is a former English rugby union footballer who played at scrum-half for Saracens, Bristol and Waterloo R.F.C....

FH 21 Mike Catt
Mike Catt
Michael John "Mike" Catt OBE is a South African-born former English rugby union footballer who played for London Irish and Bath. He earned 75 international caps for England and played in three World Cup Finals, in 1995, 2003 and 2007...

  FB 22 Iain Balshaw
Iain Balshaw
Iain Robert Balshaw, MBE is a rugby footballer who plays on the wing or at full back for Biarritz.-Early life:...

Coach:  England Sir Clive Woodward

Touch judges:

Paddy O'Brien
Paddy O'Brien (rugby referee)
Paddy O'Brien ONZM is a New Zealand international rugby union referee, and currently head of the International Rugby Board's Referee Board...

 (New Zealand)

Paul Honiss
Paul Honiss
Paul Gerard Honiss is a retired rugby union referee from Hamilton, New Zealand.Honiss held the record of the most test matches refereed when he retired as an international rugby union referee in July 2008. That record has since been surpassed by Jonathan Kaplan...

 (New Zealand)

Television match official:

Jonathan Kaplan
Jonathan Kaplan (rugby)
Jonathan Isaac Kaplan , is a full-time international rugby union referee and currently holds the record for the most international matches as referee.-Background:...

 (South Africa
South African Rugby Union
The South African Rugby Union is the governing body for rugby union in South Africa and is affiliated to the International Rugby Board...

)

Fourth official:

Joël Jutge
Joël Jutge
Joël Jutge is a former French international rugby union referee. He made his international refereeing debut in a 2000 match between Italy and Romania in Naples. Jutge decided to be a referee in 1991 after his playing career was brought to an end by a knee ligament injury...

 (France)

Fifth official:

Alain Rolland
Alain Rolland
Alain Colm Pierre Rolland is an Irish rugby union referee and former player.During his playing days as a scrum-half, Rolland earned three caps for . He started the match on 27 October 1990 against , and gained further caps as a replacement against in 1994 and the USA in 1995. He won 40 provincial...

 (Ireland
Irish Rugby Football Union
The Irish Rugby Football Union is the body managing rugby union in Ireland. The IRFU has its head office at 10/12 Lansdowne Road and home ground at Aviva Stadium, where Irish rugby union international matches are played...

)

Statistics

Team statistics
Nations Tries Conversions Penalties Drop goals Scrums Yellow Cards Red Cards
1 0 4 1 12 0 0
1 0 4 0 9 0 0

Post-final

The English squad arrived at London's Heathrow Airport to a huge reception of English fans. Captain Martin Johnson, holding the World Cup trophy was the first player to appear, which resulted in a celebration of singing Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" is a historic African-American spiritual. The first recording was in 1909, by the Fisk Jubilee Singers of Fisk University....

. Scrum-half Matt Dawson described the reception as "mind blowing" and hooker Steve Thompson said that "Walking through Heathrow was breathtaking".

A national day of celebration was held on Monday, 8 December for the English rugby team. Hundreds of thousands of fans lined the streets of London to pay tribute to the World Cup victory. The English team waited at the Marble Arch
Marble Arch
Marble Arch is a white Carrara marble monument that now stands on a large traffic island at the junction of Oxford Street, Park Lane, and Edgware Road, almost directly opposite Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park in London, England...

, until the Mayor of Westminster cut a red ribbon to signify the start of the parade. The two open-buses started to make their way down Oxford St, accompanied by numerous police (Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...

 estimated 500 were to be used for the parade). The players were all dressed in grey suits with blue shirts and red ties, and some had video cameras and cameras, as they took turns holding the trophy as the bus rolled through the ticker-tape parade and amidst thousands of white balloons and streets at a stand-still, with people even hanging off lamp posts and traffic lights to get a look at the team. Jason Leonard said to reporters on board that "We've got the best fans in the world" .

The buses then turned down Regents St and thousands of fans started to sing Swing Low, Sweet Chariot as the buses made their way onto Piccadilly Circus. The buses then made their way through Haymarket and onwards toward Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square is a public space and tourist attraction in central London, England, United Kingdom. At its centre is Nelson's Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its base. There are a number of statues and sculptures in the square, with one plinth displaying changing pieces of...

where hundreds of thousands of people were waiting. As the buses became visible from Trafalgar Square, the crowd started to sing Swing Low, Sweet Chariot as the squad approached. Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London then awarded the whole squad the freedom of London . The English squad then went on to meet the Queen at Buckingham Palace, followed by a reception at Downing Street with then Prime Minister Tony Blair .

External links

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