Despite dominating the territory and possession stakes for most of the game, France were unable to put England away. Staunch defence and refusing to panic kept the English close before Wilkinson stepped up to secure victory.

The ploy of playing centre Damien Traille at fullback initially backfired as, in the second minute, he was too casual waiting for a kick to go into touch, allowing Josh Lewsey to claim the ball and crash over for the only try of the game.

The initial exchanges were more expansive than expected, as both sides tried to move the ball wide. France looked to more dangerous of the two teams, but the English defence was superb, not allowing any linebreaks. While the French backs looked the more threatening, it was the English forwards who gained the upper hand in the forward exchanges, but with very little possession they were unable to convert their dominance into points.

The first half featured a lot of kicking by both teams, some of it good, most of it wasteful. France in particular kicked away a great deal of possession away, bombarding fullback Jason Robinson but rarely applying any pressure with their chasing.

It was the boot of Lionel Beauxis who had the French ahead at half time with two penalty goals, while his counterpart Wilkinson missed his only shot at goal. France also missed three drop goals and England one in the first half, as the teams went into the break with France up by 6-5.

In the second half the titanic struggle between the two teams continued, France pouring everything into attack and England somehow just holding on. Trading penalty goals early in the second half saw France sitting on a one point lead for most of the second half.

As the half wore on England began to claw their way back into the game, evening up the possession and territory, and seemingly poised to deliver the knockout blow. With five minutes to play the decisive penalty came and Wilkinson put his team in front, stretching the lead three minutes later with a well taken drop goal.

France spent the final moments of the game desperately trying to break the English line, but were unable to do so and crashed out of the World Cup. England are now the only defending champion to reach the final of the next World Cup.

The English will now look forward to tomorrow's game between South Africa and Argentina to see who their opponent will be as they look to play for rugby's biggest prize.