The dramatic 14–9 victory in the semi final at the Stade de France saw England beat France to delight the fans and reach the final of the Rugby World Cup.
A try in only the second minute lifted supporters’ spirits but two French penalties put France one point ahead at half time and stretching this to 5–9 after the restart. Just four minutes later England secured a penalty of their own again going just one point behind.
With five minutes to the final whistle another England penalty took it to 11–9 and, thanks to our defence holding strong and a marvellous drop goal to seal victory on 78 minutes, England were preparing to defend their world title.
On October 20th Paris was awash with white shirted fans for England’s second Rugby World Cup final in a row. Despite courage and endeavour we were not able to overcome a powerful South Africa but the final score of 6–15 did not tell the entire story, England having 58% of possession over the 80 minutes and in real contention throughout.
The team battled to the end and deserve our praise as worthy opponents for the Springboks, the new World Champions.
The National Academy had a very productive season under the direction of Conor O’Shea. A number of young players emerged through the elite player development pathway and began to have a significant impact at Guinness Premiership and international level. This is testament to the work done throughout the system, from community clubs through to the regional academies, the premiership clubs and the national age grade programmes. The regional academies are currently the subject of a major review to coincide with the end of the current academy license agreement in June 2008.
Jim Mallinder and Dorian West did some excellent work with England Saxons during the season, re-establishing the Saxons’ credibility with the players and clubs and positioning it as a crucial step on the way towards senior England honours. Two wins in February against Italy A at Exeter 34–5 and Ireland A at Ravenhill 5–32 provided a strong platform for the Saxons’ campaign to win back the Churchill Cup.
The tournament came to England for the first time this summer, with the team winning 51–3 against the USA at Edgeley Park and defeating Scotland A 18–3 at Twickenham during the pool rounds. An impressive all round performance saw England Saxons regain the Churchill Cup with a 17–13 win against holders New Zealand Maori in an exciting Twickenham final. Jim and Dorian left the RFU to join Northampton Saints during the summer and did so with our best wishes. Whilst we were sorry to lose coaches of their calibre, we believe the movement of coaches between the RFU and the clubs is testament to the good health of the elite coach development programme created by Kevin Bowring.
The England Sevens squad had a difficult year competitively, having been repositioned as part of the U20 development pathway for a much younger group of players. Mike Friday resigned as head coach at the end of 2006 and was replaced by Ben Ryan from Newbury RFC. Four of the core squad initially selected – Mike Brown, David Strettle, Nick Abendanon and James Haskell – earned promotion to England Saxons and the England senior team during the season. England Sevens finished fifth in the IRB Sevens World Series, a respectable position given the restructuring of the programme.
Nigel Redman and Mark Mapletoft led the U20 and U19 coaching programme for the season. We welcomed the IRB’s decision to move to a single, age grade U20 competition from next year and entered an U20 side into the U21 Six Nations this season in anticipation of the change. After comfortable wins against Scotland (31–5) and Italy (30–10), England lost two games in a row against Ireland (13–6) and France (32–13) and drew against Wales (21–21). Although it meant a third place finish in this year’s U21 Six Nations, we are now a year ahead of our rivals in planning terms.
The U19 squad took part in the final U19 World Cup in Belfast in the spring where they won against Samoa 20–12, Argentina 17–15 and lost against eventual champions New Zealand 13–34 in the pool rounds. Beating Argentina again 31–13 in the second round stage, the team went on to lose 17–43 to France in the 5th/6th place play-off.
A number of young players emerged through the Elite Player Development Pathway and began to have significant impact at Guinness Premiership and international level