Absolutely staggered and amazed! 2007 RWC

I've been a life-long England rugby fan, in a family of rugby fans (I even played for my college and University - loose-head prop)....and made a pledge with my mother a few years back to go to an England game in every 6-Nation stadium. we haven't got very far with this pledge, having only managed Twickenham (of course) and the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff so far...2 down, 4 to go!

But, I digress, I've followed the England team and experienced the elation of the highs, most notably the 2003 RWC, and the utter despair of the lows (too many to mention)...and went in to the 2007 RWC with a measure of trepidation, impending gloom, humiliation, and a tiny measure of hope. I didn't expect much...and our first few pool games did nothing to make me think any more...but then all of a sudden we were in the Quarter Finals....facing Australia! Ah well, we'd have a reasonable run but really didn't expect much from the Quarter Final, an fully expected to be coming home after a good and proper thrashing. But what's this? We scraped a win 12-10...against one the Rugby Super Powers. Not a pretty game, but nonetheless, when the whistle went at 80 minutes, we had more points on the board than Australia, and so we progressed through to the Semi-Finals...we won a reprieve and and extra game, we weren't going home!
France then surprised many and beat another Super Power, New Zealand, and they progressed to the Semi Finals too! I felt a bit happier with that, in my mind, psychologically France was an easier team to overcome than New Zealand...but then again they had just beaten New Zealand, so had proved themselves very worthy opponents, and we couldn't afford any complacency.

So Saturay evening, with a little more hope, and good measure of trepidation I sat down to watch the Semis...spent lots of it with my hands over my eyes, spent the final 10 minutes of the match in the kitchen with my hands over my ears...reminiscent of my behaviour during the 2003 RWC final, where I spent the last 15 minutes in the bathroom, with the TV on mute, and the door firmly locked, but we won then....and OMG, we've just beaten the French! I don't know how, I don#'t care how, it was another ugly match, with neither team showing any particular brilliance...but again at the FULL Time whistle, we had more points than the opposition, and we are now heading to the FINAL next weekend, facing South Africa who gave us a proper and deserved ass-whooping during the pool stage. I can scarcely believe it, and certainly didn't expect it...my emotions are all over the place...but bring it on.

Go ENGLAND!