As the World Cup Final fast approaches, the rugby world is still coming to terms with England’s unexpected progress to the concluding stage. Lying in wait for Brian Ashton’s side are the super-physical and hyper confident Springboks. The South Africans, with the possible exception of a nerve-jangling ten-minute spell against Fiji, have easily accounted for every side they’ve come across. Despite the one-sided pool game between these two teams last month, Saturday’s final promises to be a tense affair. This game will be decided from two facets of play, the forwards battle and then the kicking duel between the respective out-halves. Chances are the ball will never be passed beyond either first-centre.

England’s march to the final has been a somewhat inquisitive affair. The reigning World Champions were disregarded from the running long before the tournament kicked-off. A hard-fought opening round victory against the USA simply confirmed the belief that Ashton’s side would do well to qualify for the knock-out stages. Once South Africa put thirty-six unanswered points past them, many of the side may already have begun planning their trips home. However a resurgent back-row, coupled with a rise in fortunes for Jonny Wilkinson, soon changed opinions. A stalwart victory against a well-fancied Australian side was quickly followed up with that narrow win over the hosts in last weekend’s semi-final. And so, this weekend England are now only one game away from retaining their title and may well become the worst team ever to win the World Cup.

So how are they doing it? Ashton’s game-plan revolves around three simple steps. Firstly they possess a well-drilled scrum. In the quarter-final a fortnight ago, Andrew Sheridan destroyed the Wallaby set-piece. While the importance of the scrum has been somewhat reduced over the last decade, Sheridan’s efforts that day earned England some very kickable penalties and an extra edge in an already tense affair. This level of dominance had a direct effect on the next stage of their plan.

While his front-row were winning the penalties, Johnny Wilkinson was coolly slotting them over the bar. The knock-out stages of the World Cup are usually very tight games and if you can keep the scoreboard ticking over on a regular basis then the opposition will become increasingly anxious. Besides his accuracy from the dead-ball situation, Wilkinson’s positional kicking will also keep the Springboks pinned inside their own half.

The final piece in Ashton’s jigsaw is aggression at the breakdown. For the last three games against Tonga, Australia and France respectively, the English pack have contested rucks and mauls with a previously unseen level of ferocity. Turning over opposition ball on a reoccurring basis has been the cornerstone of their revival. If they can repeat these Herculean efforts on Saturday then they have every chance of securing an unlikely return to the world summit.