Heroic England reach World Cup final
Saturday, 13 Oct 2007 23:22
Jason Robinson must be glad he came out of international retirement
Jonny Wilkinson once again kicked a late drop goal as England reached the World Cup final with a nerve-wracking 14-9 semi-final win over France at the Stade de France this evening.
But it was not to be the Wilkinson show for England as the whole team worked tirelessly to secure the world champions a final showdown with either South Africa or Argentina.
Click here to see the best pictures from an historic night in Paris.
England got off to a fantastic start as wing Josh Lewsey chased down an Andy Gomarsall kick down the touchline and outmuscled French full-back Damien Traille to score a try after just 78 seconds. Wilkinson was unable to kick a tough conversion attempt.
A shell-shocked France were lucky to get back in the game eight minutes later. Lionel Beauxis tried a drop goal from the half-way line which Simon Shaw charged down, but the French came up with the ball and infringement by England players in the resulting ruck gave the French a penalty which Beauxis converted.
The French confidence grew after getting on the scoreboard, but they were unable to break through a strong England defence. Beauxis, however, did add another penalty as France went into the break 6-5 ahead.
England got off to a sloppy start in the second half and another infringement in the ruck allowed Beauxis to kick a penalty and extend the French lead.
Wilkinson, who has been struggling with his kicking and missed five attempts tonight, redeemed himself to get England back to within one point as he kicked a penalty from 30 yards out. And Wilkinson was unlucky not to give England the lead as his drop goal attempt came off the post.
England then had their best try-scoring opportunity of the second half as Jason Robinson cut through the French defence and beat four players, but he was hauled down a couple of yards from the French line and Phil Vickery gave away the penalty from the resulting ruck.
The French had more of the possession in the second half and only a brilliant tap-tackle from Joe Worsley prevented Vincent Clerc from scoring a try.
But in the end it was left to Wilkinson to seal England's passage into the final as he first kicked a penalty after 75 minutes and then converted a drop goal reminiscent of the one which won his team the Webb Ellis trophy in 2003.