England’s rugby union World Cup win against hosts Australia will take some beating

GIVEN rugby union is not even my favourite sport – it probably comes in third, in all fairness – it is perhaps surprising that my greatest memory as a sports reporter comes from covering one such match.

There is a caveat, however; the game in question was the 2003 World Cup final in Sydney.

Still aged just 25 at the time, and not long having moved from the Harrogate Advertiser, covering England’s famous success for our sister paper the Yorkshire Evening Post was certainly a surreal moment.

Before and since then, I have been fortunate enough to cover some classic contests and occasions in numerous sports.

For instance, in my main love of rugby league I have reported on countless Super League Grand Finals at Old Trafford and made the annual pilgrimage to Wembley for the Challenge Cup final.

Moreover, I have witnessed England and Great Britain in action including Four Nations finals as well as a World Cup final in the 13-man code.

Unfortunately, that 2013 decider in Manchester was contested between Australia and New Zealand after the Kiwis broke English hearts in an epic semi-final at Wembley (still one of the greatest games of rugby league I have ever witnessed despite the agonising result) so it did not quite have the allure I and so many others had hoped for.

Following Hull FC around New South Wales two years ago was a wonderful experience and I once managed to sneak over to Toulouse to see Leeds Tykes in Heineken Cup action, a great memory that makes the club’s current plight all the more painful.

Similarly, I reported as Tykes stunned Bath in the 2005 Powergen Cup final at Twickenham. Sticking £20 on them to do so at 4/1 ensured that was doubly enjoyable.

The scenes at the picturesque Rec just a fortnight later as, on the final day, Phil Davies’s side dramatically beat the same opponents again to avoid relegation, will also live long in the memory.

I have managed to cover Leeds United as a Premier League team. Yes, you read that correctly.

Thinking about it, I should really remind my colleague Graham Smyth about the fact. I have certainly missed a trick not mentioning it more often to his predecessor Phil Hay.

On that subject, I do also recollect reporting on an England game at Elland Road. I think it was in the Sven Goran Eriksson era but my memory may be playing tricks.

Spending a day at Wimbledon writing a ‘colour’ piece was a special treat, one of those times when you realise – for all the low pay and dodgy, unsociable hours – that perhaps sports journalism was not a bad career choice.

Still, England heroically defeating Australia in Sydney that night on November 22, 2003 has still to be surpassed.

It was truly an historic time; England had never won the World Cup previously and still have not done so again since.

To be there, on the other side of the planet, in the crowd of almost 83,000 and see it all unfold was magnificent.

Well, I say that. I’m not entirely sure how much of it I actually witnessed.

Although it was occurring around 10am on a Saturday morning (downtime nowadays) it was in the days when evening papers were still – sort of – evening papers.

The YEP had me down for a special 4-page wraparound as soon as the final hooter sounded, literally holding the presses so, as well as furiously typing copy as the nerve-shredding game entered extra-time, I was also panicking that my mobile phone internet connection would fail at the vital moment.

Thankfully, it did not. Everyone remembers Jonny Wilkinson’s drop-goal as the defining image of that wonderful night of sporting drama. For me, it was the message flashing up on my screen saying ‘sent’.

Panic over.

Thereafter, it all continued as a bit of a blur.

As we all know, the game itself was no classic. Indeed, it was dire for large parts.

But no England fan was fussed and rightly so.

While England as a nation celebrated back home and thousands of jubilant supporters in Sydney headed into the city to make the most of the night, I spent the next six or seven hours working through until the early morning to provide stories for our now sadly-missed Sunday paper Yorkshire Sport.

I was not complaining; I was so fortunate to be in this position.

Indeed, when he told me he would be sending me out to Oz if England safely navigated the semi-finals I thought my sports editor at the time – Phil Rostron – was actually kidding.

But he had found a sponsor to fund the cost of the flight and I just had to find some digs for free, a relative of a close family friend generously welcoming me into their home in Penrith for six nights on the whistle-stop trip. Gaining access to players directly after games can often be a lottery, waiting outside changing rooms or tunnel areas hoping the one you want to speak to will use that route out and agree to a chat.

For myriad reasons, you would imagine that scenario might only be more troublesome following a World Cup final.

However, in contrast, in the bowels of the Telstra Stadium, things could not have been easier.

The whole England squad was actually brought to us; after both coaches had completed their press conference duties, around 20-plus players descended into the media room and happily conducted interviews with whoever.

I have mentioned before in these pages about how surreal it was stood at a buffet table chatting to a casual, beer-swilling Martin Johnson as he watched a replay of Wilkinson’s killer play on the TV screen above.

To not only watch an English team become world champions but then be able to interview so many of them so soon after such a monumental occasion was something I will never forget.

It was a real privilege and, understandably, Sir Clive Woodward’s team – Wilkinson, Johnson, Lawrence Dallaglio, Will Greenwood, Jason Robinson et al – rightly became national heroes.

Unquestionably, they deserved to lift that prize as they had been the best team on the planet around that time having already beaten the revered All Blacks back-to-back for the first – and still only – time leading into the tournament.

The epic 15-13 success in Wellington in June 2013 was arguably England’s greatest-ever win and rightly earmarked them as potential world champions; people truly sat up and took notice and, rather than peaking, they grew further to claim the Webb Ellis Cup just a few months later.

What a night.

That is why it sits top for me.

That said, I hope to revise this piece after November 27 next year; Old Trafford, 2021 Rugby League World Cup final anyone...?