On home territory, Australia started favourites for the title, but even though they had to travel quite a ways to get there, there was something special happening with Clive Woodward's England side.
As George recalls, Woodward set the tone of excellence across the board, expecting the best in terms of preparation and facilities for his players, in order to get the best out of them in return.
Australia were busy hammering opponents in the pool stages, putting over 140 points past Namibia, as they showed no signs of being worried about the tag of favourites in front of a home crowd.
Once again, Ireland failed to get past the quarter-finals as they slumped to a defeat against France, who made short work of Eddie O'Sullivan's side, running out 43-21 winners.
With England beating South Africa however, a number of eyebrows were raised as people began to sit up and take notice of a team that might be doing something particularly noteworthy at this tournament. They eventually progressed to the final, to face a dominant, free-flowing Australia side, and one man stepped up to provide one of the most memorable moments in the history of the tournament.
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
