England 20 Australia 17 (aet)

England are the world champions after Jonny Wilkinson kept his nerve to drill over a drop-goal in the last minute of extra-time in Sydney.

A stunning final had seen England take control by half-time. But Australia just refused to lie down with Elton Flatley levelling in the 80^th minute, and on target again to make it 17-17 deep in extra-time.

But England won the ball back, drove down the middle and Wilkinson was there to deliver the coup de grace and send his teammates into ecstasy

"It was a huge effort by all the players and the backroom staff, everybody," said captain Martin Johnson

"Wilko was there at the death - and you wouldn't want anyone else."

Earlier Jason Robinson had scored a stunning try moments before the break as England seized control of the game to hold a 14-5 lead.

But despite piling on the pressure they couldn’t add any more points as errors started to creep into their game in the second half and paid the price.

Elton Flatley added two penalties to pull his side back into the game and set up a compelling last 20 minutes.

England set up camp deep in enemy territory, Jonny missed with one drop goal, but it was still anyone’s game going into the last 10 minutes before Flatley kept his nerve to send the game into extra-time.

Australia had made a bright start to the game and opened the scoring with a copybook move, Larkham’s cross-kick was too high for Robinson as Lote Tuqiri stretched above him on the line to score.

But England’s pack quickly gained the upper hand in the scrums and lineouts to sap the life out of their more inexperienced opponents, who were forced into mistakes at the breakdown.

David Lyons flopped over the wrong side of a ruck to give Wilkinson his first penalty from 48 metres out in the 12^th minute.

Then Larkham tackled Cohen without the ball to allow Wilko to score his second from a similar distance.

England then blew a gilt-edged chance when they created an overlap on the right, only for Ben Kay to knock on with the line at his mercy.

It didn’t appear to matter, though, when Wilkinson added another three points after Australia dragged down a scrum and Robinson struck to send the 30,000 travelling fans into orbit.

A poor clearance was run back at Australia with Dallaglio and Wilkinson combining through the middle to give Robinson the opening to surge over on the right.

Having dominated the half-hour before the break, England lost their grip on the game early in the second half as some errors crept in at scrum and lineout.

They started to give away penalties too, with Elton Flatley pulling three back in the 46^th minute, just short in the 52^nd and on target again to make it 14-11 after 61 minutes.

England stepped up a gear and strung together the phases to push deep into Australia’s 22.

But they just couldn’t put the chances away to leave Australia with an outside chance of retaining their crown and Wilkinson’s attempted drop goal in the 71^st minute was the closest they came to scoring.

Then the game turned. Suddenly Australia were down the field, Kay nudged the ball forward at a lineout, and a penalty at the scrum that followed gave Flatley the chance to level the scores.From 15 metres in from the right on the 22 he kept his nerve superbly to send the game into extra-time.

Wilkinson, though, wasn’t to be denied at the start of the first 10 minutes of extra-time. He put his side back in front with a stunning shot between the posts from fully 50 metres out wide on the right

England were forced to mount a desperate goalline stand after Tuqiri was tackled five metres out but then a sloppy lineout then led to them giving away a penalty at a ruck and again Flatley kept Australia in it with less than two minutes on the clock.

And Wilkinson wasn’t finished. The ball was secured at the next lineout, moved infield patiently and there he was, erasing all the doubts, to drill over the 30-metre shot that won the cup.