LONDON: England fans trudged home from Paris yesterday after their team's defeat in the rugby World Cup final, bitterly disappointed but with heads held high after a widely-praised England display.

Tens of thousands streamed home on the Eurostar and by plane and car, the morning after defending champions England, which saw a remarkable turnaround after a disastrous start, lost 15-6 to South Africa after a five-week tournament.

"South Africa just played a better game than us," said Lewis, arriving at Waterloo station from Paris, describing himself as "gutted". "Unfortunately we couldn't retain it. The forwards played well but in the back line we just never looked like breaking their lines. New Zealand in four years' time that's all we've got to look forward to," he told the BBC, referring to the next World Cup in 2011.

Sport minister Gerry Sutcliffe said England, who was defeated 36-0 by South Africa in the pool stages last month, could be proud of the way they recovered, defeating Australia and France to reach the final.

"Let me start by congratulating South Africa, but what a performance by England," he told Sky News.

"We didn't expect to get to the final, we got there, we had a great two months and I think all the England players can hold their heads up with credit."

The British press widely praised England's performance in the final, while saluting the Springboks as ultimately the better team.

"The 2003 world champions (England) will know that on the day, they were not the better side," said the Sunday Times, saying England failed to dominate the lineout in the first half and did not take advantage of territorial advantage.

The Sunday Telegraph's Paul Ackford, himself a former England lock, said it was a "hugely worthy effort" but "on the balance of play there can be few complaints from England".

South Africa's win was a "fitting reward for a host of fine players", he said, and "at the end the best side in this World Cup prevailed".

A number of newspapers mulled over referee Alain Rolland's decision not to award what appeared to be a try from England's Mark Cueto early in the second-half after a ruling from the video referee Stuart Dickinson.

The News of the World, which normally concentrates on soccer, headlined its report "A reffin' disaster", saying Rolland "did them no favors" with "a string of debatable decisions".

AFP

(China Daily 10/22/2007 page12)