Rugby World Cup Final: To my own surprise, I am hoping England will win the World Cup this morning. It is time the William Webb Ellis trophy came to the Northern Hemisphere, having been owned by the Southern Hemisphere since the competition began in 1987.

It will also be good for Irish rugby if we are playing against world champions for the next four years. We would be in a better position to assess our world ranking than ever before.

Australian rugby was in the doldrums 20 years ago. They were particularly upset when Ireland won the Test series in 1979. The target which they sought to achieve was to compete with and beat their near neighbours, the All Blacks. They have certainly risen to that challenge in the period since then. The challenge for Ireland is to reach the standard of the best of our neighbours, England, and to compete and beat them. It is a huge challenge but no greater than that which faced the Wallabies.

I also have great admiration for the consistency which this English team has shown over the past number of years. They have risen to every challenge.

The weather forecast is not very good and this may suit England. They appear to have a much stronger front five and will be very happy if there are a lot of scrums in the game. Their lineout is comfortable on its own ball. I was surprised that they did not compete more on the opposition throw in the French game. They appeared quite happy to let the French win their own ball and then contain them. Ireland had great success against Australia and the Australian throws and England may decide to do likewise. Australia will surely have improved in this area and looked better prepared against New Zealand.

Looking at statistics and recent results, England would appear to be hot favourites. Statistics count for very little, however, when it comes to a final. What may be of greater importance and may stand to England at the end of the day is their greater experience under pressure. They seldom seem to panic.

There are a number of very interesting contests, particularly between the back rows and the half-backs. If the Australian front five are dominated as the French were, it will make it very difficult for their back row and half-backs to operate. I am sure the English back row and half-backs will at a minimum have a solid platform to work from.

I believe most people underestimate the English backs and their try-scoring potential. The simple fact is they have played to their strength all along and as Clive Woodward says, it is about winning.

It is amazing to see the Australians criticising the English for being boring. This is exactly the sort of tactic they engaged in before the 1995 final. The English on that occasion were suckered into abandoning their normal game and ran the ball all afternoon against an Australian side which hardly passed it at all. Victory, as we know, went to the Australians and I am sure they were not complaining about "boring" rugby on their way home with the trophy.

There is a lot of rubbish talked about entertaining rugby. To people who understand the game, rugby is entertaining when it is played well. The English performance against France was very entertaining because they played so well in terrible conditions and dominated the game right from the start.

Similarly, the Australian performance against New Zealand was very entertaining because of the quality of their play. The Australians did not play as they did to entertain people, they did so because it was the most suitable game plan for their team to beat the All Blacks. If they believed their best chance against the New Zealand was to keep the ball in the pack all afternoon, they would most certainly have done so.

It is also worth noting that for all their movement that day, they only scored one try against the demoralised Kiwis - and that was an interception.

As people are now beginning to recognise everywhere, the Australians are the great spin doctors of world rugby.

An Australian victory is of course possible but if conditions are very bad, it will certainly reduce their chances. A dry ball would help them because their main strength does appear to lie with their backs and particularly on the wings and at full back.

The English back line, however, is a different proposition to the All Blacks. The English backs are physically very strong and, as I always remember from watching the unfortunate experience of the Irish backs in the Grand Slam decider earlier this year, they give very little away.

It has struck me in all the quarter-finals and semi-finals that the team that grabs the initiative at the outset and builds momentum is very hard to beat.

There will be a lot of nerves at the beginning of this game and there could be a lot of unforced errors, particularly if the weather turns out to be as bad as predicted. It may take some time before either side builds a momentum.

Australia surprised us all with the quality of their performance against New Zealand. Their tactics were perfect on that occasion and I am curious to see what they will decide to do in the final but it is clear one thing they should not do is try to take England on too much up front where they will come out second best.

Australia will probably go for a very fast-working game to try and move the heavy, old English pack around the park as much as possible. They will also probably try to speed up lineouts. England, I am sure, will not be fooled as they were in 1995 and will stick to their game plan which has been tried and tested.

There may be celebrations in Skerries rugby club tomorrow if their former underage player, Kyran Bracken, becomes the first Irish-born player to win a World Cup medal.

It should be a fascinating contest.