The abiding lesson from the World Cup, and the final especially, was that for prospective champions individual ability can take you so far, but there's no substitute for hard work and meticulous planning. The Australians had made it sound as if there'd be little time for anything else the past two years, and nothing else at all for the past two months.

"A lot of hard work and sacrifices have been made," said Rod Macqueen, "not just by the players but all the technical staff as well, and it is nice to see the players reaping the rewards of their hard work. It's also nice to see something that has been planned for so long come off in this way."

The Wallabies were in camp for 10 days before they travelled to Ireland seven weeks ago. So when you ask Matt Burke what was the memory he'd most like to cherish from the day of the final itself, or over the whole campaign, the ultra-composed fullback surprisingly takes you back to the beginning.

"We didn't sleep much on the plane over, so as to get our body clocks adjusted. And then when we arrived in Dublin we had a round of golf at the lovely Portmarnock Hotel and Golf Links. That night we had a few beers and a bit of a sing-song, and I knew then that this was going to be a special group of people together. So, I guess, I'd pick the first day," he concludes, smiling at the irony.

The celebrations had begun by that stage, with the Webb Ellis Trophy, filled with champagne, being passed around the entire party of 42 in the dressing-room - including the bus driver. They left little in the way of a bad taste behind them, and it's worth pointing out that, aside from being friendly and accessible, these Wallabies were supremely sporting and well-behaved on the pitch. Model professionals.

So, whereas the All Blacks' complaints of French dirty deeds could be derided as the whinging of sore losers, when it came from the victorious Wallabies and their mild-mannered captain, John Eales, it carried more credence.

Eales, himself uncharacteristically yellow-carded for punching (though that the Australian captain was provoked in the first place is arguably more relevant) was asked about allegations of French eye-gouging at the post-match news conference.

"Certain things happened on the field we weren't too happy about, and the disappointing thing is that the French are such a good side, they don't need to play like that."

The French mantra was how they had struggled to compete with the Australians physically. "Normally when you lose you are disappointed, but I think today was more a case of Australia winning the game. So I say a big bravo to them," said French coach Jean-Claude Skrela.

The French players couldn't have looked more drained than if they had been banging their heads against a brick wall. Captain Raphael Ibanez admitted that "whereas Australia are used to playing games of this intensity, we were saying to ourselves `This is the World Cup final', a bit like kids in a sweet shop. We are not as used to playing at this intensity."

The only solution, as Skrela sees it, along with Graham Henry and every other coach of a beaten Northern Hemisphere side, was for the development of a European competition to rival the Super 12s.

"I know I am repeating myself here, but we must have more regular competition at club level with the Irish, the Scottish, the Welsh and the English."

It's so blindingly obvious, yet the powers-that-be, be they the little Englanders at Twickenham, or union officials and club owners, are so myopic about their interests that it will probably never happen.