World Cup final: Burgess steps up to lead England's pursuit of glory

A RARE chance to become all-time rugby league legends awaits the England national side in Brisbane today.
Sam Burgess takes a selfie with fans after England's World Cup semi-final win over Tomga (Picture: Andrew Cornaga/SWpix.com/PhotosportNZ).Sam Burgess takes a selfie with fans after England's World Cup semi-final win over Tomga (Picture: Andrew Cornaga/SWpix.com/PhotosportNZ).
Sam Burgess takes a selfie with fans after England's World Cup semi-final win over Tomga (Picture: Andrew Cornaga/SWpix.com/PhotosportNZ).

The time for talk is over. Just 80 minutes and, of course, the revered Australian Kangaroos at a throbbing World Cup final stand between Wayne Bennett’s side and sporting immortality.

Obviously, everyone knows the numbers; it is 45 years since a team from the northern hemisphere – Great Britain – lifted the Paul Barrière Trophy, 22 years since England even contested a final and, of the 14 competitions since the World Cup’s inception in 1954, Australia have won a record 10 times.

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Furthermore, the Green and Golds have triumphed in each of the last 11 meetings between the sides, they are blessed with the world’s greatest player and a fair few others who rival him.

Indeed, some bookmakers have them as 1-8 to win while they have never lost under their coach Mal Meninga, who was captain when the ’Roos edged Great Britain at Wembley in the 1992 final, another one that got away.

You do not have to look far to find plenty more reasons why England are, in may quarters, simply not given a chance.

Even yesterday another emerged when their captain, the inspirational and genuinely world-class Sean O’Loughlin, accepted he was simply not fit enough for what would have been the biggest game and proudest moment of his illustrious career.

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He pulled out due to a quad injury, joining England’s first-choice hooker Josh Hodgson, who ruptured a cruciate ligament in last week’s semi-final victory.

The Yorkshireman Sam Burgess, then, steps up to lead his country, and plenty will rest on his broad shoulders. This is nothing new to him.

For Burgess is world-class, too, just like his gnarled pack colleagues James Graham and Elliott Whitehead, the dynamic hooker James Roby and those prolific wingers Ryan Hall and Jermaine McGillvary who finish with finesse but also batter opponents into submission like the most brutal forwards around.

Gareth Widdop is highly-respected in the NRL, Kallum Watkins has grown with every game and, as recently-crowned Man of Steel, Luke Gale certainly knows he is good enough for this stage.

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There are reasons, then, to believe England can prosper. In a remarkable show of team unity and selflessness, O’Loughlin and Hodgson last night put aside their personal heartaches by presenting those 17 that are playing with their Final match jerseys.

Those team-mates fully understood what that meant.

Much of the build-up in this country, though, has centred on a politician’s comment wondering whether the media would ever “inform the nation” that England were actually in this final.

For now, though, it matters little whether enough publicity was garnered around the event. They are in a World Cup final. – and it is happening today.

All that does matter is that 17 players will walk out for England knowing they have the opportunity to achieve greatness.

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To them, and for now, it does not matter if an entire nation is not banging the drum for them.

Just 4,231 fans at the Stade de Gerland in Lyon witnessed Clive Sullivan score the memorable try that helped secured Great Britain the World Cup in 1972.

There will be around 50,000 in Brisbane today and, for the record, plenty of media and – with messages of support – individuals have raised the final’s profile, such as Sir Clive Woodward, who knows about winning a World Cup in Australia, and England cricket captain Joe Root.

Moreover, Root’s England and Yorkshire colleague Jonny Bairstow – an avid Leeds Rhinos fan – dedicated his Ashes column in a national newspaper yesterday to this enthralling fixture.

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It should be great sporting theatre and, for those who opt against tuning in to BBC1 this morning, more fool them.

Granted, if England do upset those odds, they will probably not be garlanded with MBEs like the England rugby union side in 2003 – they, too, sent their best wishes – but all that is for later.

After so many near misses, the tide must turn soon, surely?

For all of Australia’s dominance, they have painful memories of Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium where they did fall in the 2008 final against New Zealand, who had Bennett assisting their head coach Stephen Kearney.

They succumbed there in the 2010 Four Nations final, too.

It could all still be wishful thinking. But England, for one, will not leave anything to chance.

Final preview: Page 7.