Bravo England!

[Tom]

Bravo England for winning the World Cup! Are Croats any good at rugby?

[Guest]

What is rugby??

[Mirko]

So, so! A few years back they were much better as they had saome "Kiwis" and Argentinians playing for them.

[Anton]

A Late Kick Helps England Snatch Title At World Cup
By PETER BERLIN

Published: November 23, 2003


SYDNEY, Australia, Nov. 22 — Australia knew exactly what was coming. There were fewer than 30 seconds to play in extra time in the final of the rugby World Cup on Saturday. The two teams were tied. The aging England pack made one last thrust at the opposition's line. Jonny Wilkinson, the England fly half, took up position. As the ball came back to him three burly Australians charged. He seemed not to notice them as he dropped the ball and swung his boot.

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"Twenty seconds to go, Wilko in front of the posts to win the World Cup," said Martin Johnson, the captain of England, at the postgame news conference. "I'm sure he's been in that scenario a few times on the training field."

Wilkinson had kicked three drop goals, as well as five penalties, to score all the points as England beat France in the semifinal six days ago. But he had already missed three on Saturday. With the pressure at its most intense he was at his coolest. The ball curled between the uprights.

England had won, 20-17 and the crowd of 82,957 at the Telstra Stadium, formerly the Olympic Stadium, could exhale. The victory made it the first team from the Northern Hemisphere to lift the diminutive trophy the Australians call the golden tea cup.

Seemingly everyone in the crowd was wearing a replica national rugby jersey. The basic color was gold. There was a patch of New Zealand black and a couple of islands of dark Springbok green, but what really caught the eye was the great swirls and drifts of white. Tens of thousands of English fans had taken a pre-Christmas vacation to support their team in the later stages of the World Cup and never can so many people have been so happy to see rain on their vacation.

England's team had sought the hottest places for its training all through the summer in the Northern Hemisphere in anticipation of steamy nights late in the Australian spring. Instead, it rained for the second straight weekend. Rain that made the ball and the ground slippery and made it more difficult for the younger, lighter Australians to adopt a strategy of moving the English around the field.

Australia took the lead after six minutes when Stephen Larkham, the Australian fly half, spotted a matchup of wingers he liked on the far side of the field where Jason Robinson, who is 5-foot-7 defending against 6-3, Lote Tuqiri. Tuqiri outleaped the Englishman to gather Larkham's high kick into the end zone and touched down.

After that England seized control. It drove the Wallabies back with heavy hits and punishing runs, forcing turnovers and penalties. Every penalty the Australians conceded in their own half Wilkinson turned into points, kicking three between the 12th and 28th minutes. Ben Kay, an England lock, spilled the pass that would have given him a free run to the line, but, for Australia the respite was brief.

Wilkinson broke and his pass set Robinson racing for the line. The winger exploited the wet conditions, diving early and sliding over the line under two defenders. England led, 14-5, at halftime and seemed to have the momentum.

But Kay's drop had been an omen. Every time England got close to the Australian line in the second half it fumbled away possession. Perhaps they had been stung by the relentless complaints from the Australian new media and public before the final that England's style of driving with the forwards and relying on Wilkinson to kick the points was boring.

But it was with the boot that Australia clawed its way back into the match. Elton Flatley kicked three penalties, the last of them in the final minute, to tie the score, 14-14.

England quickly re-established momentum in extra time and quickly won a penalty. Wilkinson kicked it to edge his team ahead. Desperate to increase the lead he attempted drop goals the next two times England attacked, but missed both.

Again Australia fought back. With less than two minutes left it summoned one last attack and was rewarded with a penalty. Flatley, whose conversion percentage matched Wilkinson's through the World Cup, nervelessly tied the score.

But that only set the stage for Wilkinson's last-second winning goal.

England was "outstanding," Eddie Jones, the Australian coach, said. "They are the best team in the world — by one minute."

Then he smiled, because he knew that a minute was more than enough for Wilkinson and his teammates.

Celebration in London

LONDON, Nov. 22 (Reuters) — Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain sent his congratulations to the England team on being crowned world rugby champions.

Blair, who watched the nail-biting World Cup final at his country residence, Chequers, said: "This was a fantastic day for English rugby and for England. The team can be proud of their performance, their spirit and above all their character."

Queen Elizabeth II also passed on her congratulations. "The Queen has sent a message to Coach Clive Woodward congratulating the team on a great victory," the spokeswoman said.

[Medo]

At the moment not really. We recently lost 22-20 to Slovenia so that would give you a better idea as to how good Croatia are.

Croatia were better in the past. Probably the best moment was when Croatia were seconds away from beating New Zealand in the Hong Kong 7's, but that went to pieces.

In terms of players the most well known of Croatian origin are:
Dan Luger
Frano Botica (former NZ All-Black) who played twice for Croatia in 97.

Another former NZ All-Black also played for Croatia in 1998, Matthew Cooper.