Focus on England's flyhalf hero Jonny Wilkinson and South Africa's man of speed Bryan Habana ahead Saturday's Rugby World Cup final. An extraordinary tournamentwith the most unlikely of finals on Saturday (October 20) when Rugby World Cup holders England somehow find themselves again facing the South Africa team who humiliated them 36-0 five long weeks ago in the pool stages. England are one win away from becoming the first team to retain the World Cup and the first to lift it after losing a omatch en route. After their travails before the tournament and their woes in its early pool weeks, success on Saturday would probably surpass the achievements of 2003. The holders have momentum, renewed belief, vast experience, wonderful defence and a fantastically stubborn refusal to be beaten that has seen them come from behind in three of their last four, effectively knockout games. The star of the England team has been fly half, Jonny Wilkinson, the 28-year-old who kicked the winning drop goal in the final minute of extra time in the 2003 final. He missed England's 36-0 pool defeat to the Springboks with an ankle injury, but he recovered to help the side to victory against Samoa and despite not being at his best, has delivered when it has mattered. South Africa's technical advisor Eddie Jones is Australian and was head coach of the Australia side that lost the 2003 final to England. He said on Thursday of Wilkinson: "Well he's a different sort of player (now); defensively he's still good, but obviously, yeah he's probably not as dominant a player as he was in 2003, but I think the thing about Jonny that he adds to the England squad is that he just gives them enormous confidence and you can see guys around him play better when he's out there, because he has won a world cup, he still kicks reasonably well, he still kicks a field goal here and there and he's tough." Wilkinson's opposite number on Saturday, Butch James, said: "Obviously I always try and make it as hard as possible for my opposite number and I think that he'll be no exception. I think if you can get him off his game, then you are almost there. So I'll do my best to outplay him and get him a bit rattled but, yeah, like I said there's another 14 guys that you have to worry about if you've got your eyes on one guy." Most attention on the South African side is focussed on winger Bryan Habana, one of the fastest rugby players in the world, who believes that in at least one respect, Wilkinson is the best on the planet. "...I think, you know, tactically I don't think there can be anyone better in the world at the moment than Jonny Wilkinson. I think he's proved in the last five, six years of playing international rugby why people are so scared of him. I think we've sort of analysed him and we sort of know what they're going to do, I think with Jonny there it's a little bit unpredictable, but we are not looking -- we're worried about England, but we're more worried about going out there and putting down our own success, putting down our own structures and you know, going out there to play the way we want to play." Wilkinson kicked a late penalty and a drop goal against France last Saturday to seal England's place in the decider and give them a chance of retaining their World Cup crown. Habana himself has scored eight tries in this tournament, equalling New Zealander Jonah Lomu's record for a world cup. South African captain John Smit says having him in the squad is a real pleasure. "Well, Bryan's as good off the field as he is on; he's been with us a couple of years and scored some great tries. It's quite wonderful to be looking for your second lung (wind) after having scrummed or driven and then the ball goes wide and he runs 70 metres and gives you a chance to catch your breath. So, as a tight forward, he makes a big impact on my life but yeah I think he's quite aware that he only gets those chances because the guys can set the pace up front. So, I certainly hope that he gets another two or three (tries) this weekend but only time will tell." The English opposition are also well aware of the threat posed by Habana. England head coach Brian Ashton commented on Friday (October 19): "I think he's a world class winger, without any shadow of a doubt. He's got pace, he's got intelligence and he's got this ability to beat players, not one-on-one -- he's probably under-selling it -- he can probably beat the first three players you put in front of him and he's just a terrific player, terrific advert for world rugby and a terrific advert obviously for South African rugby." The really bad news for England is that South Africa technical advisor Eddie Jones thinks Habana can get even better. "He's pretty sharp. Look, he scores tries that other people don't even dream about and that's a strength. He's not only fast, he's strong. But you know, again, I read some of his comments in the paper and he doesn't think he's played as well as he can and he can still play better, he can still develop an all round game," said Jones.
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Added: Apr 20, 2008 |
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