November 15, 2005

• Monday November 14, 12:46 AM

  English sport savours treble triumph

  For English sports fans, Saturday, November 12 was a day like few
  others. Not only were the England national rugby union, soccer, and
  Great Britain rugby league teams all in action – itself a rare
  coincidence – but they all won.

  A familiar refrain is that England’s greatest contribution to all
  three football codes was to invent them and then watch while the rest
  of the world showed them how to play the games they’d created.

  But, for one day at least, the patriotic English sports follower
  could ignore the taunts and, if they had access to satellite
  television, sit back and soak up the success.

  Following a season where their cricketers had beat Australia to win
  the Ashes, England’s world champion rugby union team defeated Australia
  26-16 at Twickenham as the Wallabies suffered a record-equalling
  seventh straight loss.

  Meanwhile, in Geneva, England’s soccer side came back to beat
  Argentina, one of the favourites for next year’s World Cup, 3-2 thanks
  to two late goals from striker Michael Owen.

  Capping it all-off, Great Britain – in a match they had to win to
  keep their hopes of reaching the Tri-Nations tournament alive – beat
  New Zealand 38-12 in Huddersfield having been an incredible 26-0 ahead
  at half-time.

  Although a predominately English side must still beat Australia to
  qualify for the November 26 final, Britain coach Brian Noble
  justifiably said after Saturday’s result. “We were terrific tonight.”

  The England rugby union team were in a different position.

  Since beating Australia in the 2003 World Cup final, they’d slipped
  sharply from the summit and had won just four out of their previous 12
  matches before Saturday’s fixture.

  But they came good and England captain Martin Corry said: “Rarely do we deliver on great expectations but we did today.”

  England-Argentina soccer matches became charged contests following
  their 1966 World Cup quarter-final, where the South Americans’ captain
  Antonio Rattin was sent-off.

  England manager Alf Ramsey, whose side went on to win the tournament for the only time in history, branded Argentina “animals”.

  But come the 1986 World Cup Diego Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ goal
  helped Argentina, who went on to beat West Germany in the final, knock
  out England.

  Then, in 1998, Owen made his name with a brilliant World Cup goal
  against Argentina only for England to lose in a penalty shoot-out after
  David Beckham had been sent-off.

  However, three years ago Beckham’s penalty gave England a 1-0 World Cup win over Argentina.

  “To come back twice was great,” said Owen after his latest exploits.
  “Cracking excitement, you can see our fans going mad at the end.”

  And what of the nation’s cricketers, once such an embarrassment it
  was frequently suggested the phrase ‘England batting collapse’ was all
  one word?

  They too were in action on Saturday, where Pakistan raced to 161 for one on the opening day of the first Test in Multan.

  But England, minus injured captain Michael Vaughan, fought back as the hosts slumped to 244 for six at stumps.

  Could the day get any better for an Englishman?

  Well seeing neighbours Scotland struggle, for most England fans, no
  longer provokes widespread rejoicing although there remains a hard core
  north of the border for whom England failure will always be welcomed.

  But Saturday was not a great day for Scottish supporters, whose devotion to their teams has rarely been repaid by results.

  In Glasgow, the soccer side drew 1-1 with the United States while in Edinburgh the rugby union team lost 23-19 to Argentina.

  • 3:03 am
  • 1 Comment