ENGLAND star Ben Kay, in association with Tetley's, Official Beer of England Rugby, looks back on England's fantastic semi-final win over France in the Rugby World Cup.

WHAT a game and what a result. In some ways it's hard to believe it but we really are in the World Cup final next weekend and playing the reigning champions on their home patch is just about as big as it could be. I can't wait.

It was an awesome effort by the boys against France, particularly in the forwards.

A few of us had had questions asked of us over the past few weeks, particularly about our age, and we knew we had to stand up and be counted. I think we did pretty well.

We had a banner in the changing room which read 'Winning is everything - that's why we are here' and that was the spirit we took onto the pitch. People will point to the fact that we did not score any tries but frankly who cares?

Instead we waited for the French to make mistakes or infringe to stop our go-forward and Jonny was on hand to punish them when they did.

He had a hell of a game, didn't he? The poor guy was under so much pressure from the media that he has been a virtual recluse, spending massive amounts of time in his hotel room to avoid the paparazzi.

He has had a lot of criticism and a lot of people questioning his ability in the last few days but he stood up and was counted when the time was right.

I don't think a single England player had a bad game and some of the guys were outstanding.

The management had got it spot on during the week leading up to the match: we trained very lightly and that left us feeling really fresh. Against Wales, we had come off the pitch feeling absolutely drained but in this match we all found our second wind with 20 minutes to go and were buzzing with energy. At that point the French were hanging, heads down fighting for breath.

When we went 14 points up I felt we were going to win it and the next penalty confirmed it in my mind.

It was still a great feeling though when the final whistle went.

Fantastic for Jason Leonard to get his 112th cap and thus become the most capped international of all time.

But he was just one of 30 guys - including the eight who were not in the match-day squad who contributed to what has been an outstanding team effort.

So now we face the Wallabies. Their press reckon we are old, we are past it and we are running on diesel unlike their high-octane players.

They are a great side, as they proved against the All Blacks and it's going to be a hell of a test on Saturday.

They must start as favourites because they are at home and because of their history, but we have got a fighting chance of being the first English team to bring a World Cup back home since 1966.