ENGLAND are world champions. How sweet that sounds.

Not since 1966 has our nation won a global team event of any sporting note. And fittingly, our rugby triumph in Sydney on Saturday mirrored the drama of our football triumph at Wembley 37 years ago - right down to the extra time and last-minute goal.

Too often England sportsmen and women flatter to deceive. But these players fulfilled their potential. They went to Australia as favourites and will set off home today as champions.

A victory parade through the streets of London and inclusion in the New Year's Honours List are the very least they deserve.

A great deal has been said of Jonny Wilkinson's key role in the triumph. But in a squad where every single member deserves praise, along with Wilkinson, we single out coach Clive Woodward and skipper Martin Johnson for particular attention.

Four years ago when England lost in the quarter-finals of the last World Cup, many people were happy to hound Woodward out of office. Thankfully he survived.

The determination and single-mindedness with which he has set about winning the World Cup are a lesson for coaches in other sports to follow.

In Johnson, the England rugby team have a captain of immense stature; someone proud to represent his country and someone who leads by example.

While it may be a clich, rugby union has been the real winner over the past six weeks of the World Cup. It has earned the new wave of finances and support that will surely come its way.

A defining moment on Saturday was when the referee blew for a controversial penalty in the dying moments of proper time. It was a decision which could have cost England the World Cup.

Yet there was not a word of dissent from any of the players. How refreshing that moment was to those of us used to watching so-called professional footballers and managers show nothing but disrespect for authority.

With sport in England dominated by stories of ill-discipline, drug-taking allegations and criminal investigations, few will deny rugby union and its players their new-found star status.