大象传媒

From Cape Town and Dover they came... (74)

• Tom Fordyce
• 16 Oct 07, 12:16 PM

The outskirts of Paris, Tuesday - 鈥淐onfidence,鈥� sang Elvis - 鈥淭here's no job too immense when you've got confidence.鈥�

While was a hero to most, he never meant squit to me. But, as I鈥檝e strolled around in the last few days, the words of the be鈥檘uiffed porker have rung in my ears time and time again.

If there鈥檚 a Springboks fan out there who isn鈥檛 completely and utterly 100% certain that his side will win the World Cup on Saturday night, I鈥檝e yet to meet them.

So sure are they of victory that it鈥檚 as if the match will be called off by supplicating officials the moment they arrive at the Stade de France, with the William Webb-Ellis trophy handed to them on a giant silver salver by a boot-kissing Brian Ashton to prevent the slaughter of his weak-limbed innocents.

The list of reasons is as long as : , , the dominance of the line-out, the form of Fourie Du Preez, the dead-eye kicking of and, above all, the unanswerable fact of that at the same stadium just four weeks ago.

England shouldn鈥檛 have a hope in hell against South Africa. But they do, and it鈥檚 all because of one thing: the unmistakable air of unblinking belief emanating from their re-born squad.

England had no chance against Australia. They didn鈥檛 have much of a chance against France. But, somehow, a team in pieces and came through.

From impossible victories comes . And this England team now has belief by the bucketload.

Now, a man should be wary of reading too much into Elvis lyrics.

鈥淲hen everyone thought the world was flat鈥�, he crooned in the same song, 鈥淐olumbus said 鈥業t's round鈥�. He went down in history, and America was found.鈥�

Not entirely fair to Pliny and , for starters, not to mention the long-range raiding of the Vikings or .

And South Africa remain the clear favourites among the vast majority of neutrals we鈥檝e talked to since the at .

But there is also something fragile about the Springboks鈥� seemingly rock-solid convictions.

Maybe it鈥檚 the way that every one of their players that we spoke to after Sunday鈥檚 defeat of Argentina about Jonny Wilkinson, most of them completely unprompted.

Maybe it鈥檚 the memory of the look on the team鈥檚 faces when Fiji hauled themselves level at 20-20 in the 鈥� shocked, hollow-eyed, one fantastic try-saving tackle from JP Pietersen from joining the All Blacks and Australia on the pile of fallen giants.

Or maybe it鈥檚 that they are such hot favourites that they have everything to lose this weekend, burdened with the knowledge that they simply have to win, whereas England can charge out with expectations already wildly over-fulfilled.

For Ben and me, entering our seventh week together in , there are no two ways about it: everything from here on in is one huge sizzling bonus.

Never in our wildest, cheese-fed dreams did we imagine that a trip that began in the grey drizzle of Dover at the start of September would end with us watching England in the World Cup final.

In a week鈥檚 time we will be home, 13 World Cup matches and almost 5,000 miles under our belts. If they ever film a re-make of , we want supporting roles at the very least.

For now, it鈥檚 all about rest, recovery and the re-charging of exhausted batteries before the final big push this weekend.

With Paris still stubbornly unreceptive to the charms of over-long campervans, we鈥檝e thrown budgetary caution to the winds and booked ourselves a poky twin room somewhere .

It鈥檚 barely got enough floor space for a pair of stinking flip-flops, yet already our mobiles are melting with requests from friends desperate for somewhere to crash.

You wouldn鈥檛 believe how many old mates have suddenly decided that they can鈥檛 get through the next four days without seeing us - you really wouldn鈥檛.

Tom Fordyce is a 大象传媒 Sport journalist travelling around France in a camper van with Ben Dirs.

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