{"id":298516,"date":"2023-11-24T01:25:12","date_gmt":"2023-11-24T01:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/?p=298516"},"modified":"2023-11-24T01:25:12","modified_gmt":"2023-11-24T01:25:12","slug":"englands-2003-rugby-world-cup-heroes-reunite-for-the-first-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/rugby-union\/englands-2003-rugby-world-cup-heroes-reunite-for-the-first-time\/","title":{"rendered":"England&apos;s 2003 Rugby World Cup heroes reunite for the first time"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>England&#8217;s 2003 Rugby World Cup heroes reunite for the first time in two decades to celebrate the 20-year anniversary of their historic Jonny Wilkinson-inspired victory in Australia<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Wednesday&#8217;s event marked the first time all 31 squad members were reunited\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Jonny Wilkinson&#8217;s drop goal 28 seconds from time sealed the World Cup victory\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Worse-for-wear Prince Harry had to be helped out of the after party on the night\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>England&#8217;s Rugby World Cup-winning side of 2003 were all reunited once again on Wednesday at an event in London, 20 years after their iconic victory over Australia.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Sir Clive Woodward&#8217;s England lifted the William Webb Ellis trophy for the first &#8211; and so far only &#8211; time in 2003, after a Jonny Wilkinson drop goal against George Gregan&#8217;s Australia.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Woodward&#8217;s side are still the only northern hemisphere side to win the World Cup, with the other nine tournaments won by South Africa (four), New Zealand (three) and Australia (two).\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The current incarnation of the side made it all the way to the semi-finals this time round, despite coming in as rank outsiders, before a narrow one-point defeat to eventual champions, the Springboks.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But on Thursday it was all about looking into the past, as Wilkinson, Woodward, Martin Johnson and Co all assembled for a Class of 2003 reunion at the Eventim Apollo in London.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/24\/00\/78180635-0-image-a-47_1700786744380.jpg\" height=\"380\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>England&#8217;s World Cup-winning side from 2003 were all reunited for the first time in London\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/24\/01\/78181165-12785905-image-a-85_1700788091484.jpg\" height=\"384\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The squad took centre stage at the\u00a0Eventim Apollo,\u00a020 years after their victory over Australia<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/24\/00\/78180637-0-image-a-49_1700786808557.jpg\" height=\"462\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Wilkinson and South African-born team-mate Mike Catt pose with the trophy at the event<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/24\/01\/78181153-12785905-image-a-93_1700788401463.jpg\" height=\"457\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Josh Lewsey (L) and Andy Gomarsall (R) also struck a pose with the silverware in London<\/p>\n<p>Wednesday&#8217;s show marked the first time that all 31 members of the World Cup squad were back in the same place, with fans able to buy tickets to attend.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The squad looked back at their achievement and shared a number of personal memories and moments that might have previously escaped attention.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In a video posted by England Rugby&#8217;s Instagram account, Wilkinson &#8211; who scored the all important drop goal 28 seconds from time &#8211; said: &#8216;It&#8217;s great being back with all the guys from the squad 20 years on.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;It&#8217;s great to be able to see everyone, and to get a feel of what everyone&#8217;s been up to, but also to I guess get a feel for why we were able to do what we did 20 years ago, because it still lives on in everyone.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>The squad members posed for photos together, and were given the chance to catch up, having all gone their separate ways since retirement.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Wilkinson, Woodward and No 8 Lawrence Dallaglio all regularly feature on ITV&#8217;s rugby coverage, while captain Martin Johnson went on to coach the side from 2008-2011.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Mike Tyndall has had arguably the biggest 20 years, marrying Queen Elizabeth II&#8217;s granddaughter Zara Phillips eight years after that famous day.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/24\/00\/78180545-0-image-a-51_1700786895471.jpg\" height=\"747\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The squad posed for retro-style polaroid pictures on the night (Picture left to right: Wilkinson, Johnson, Jason Robinson, Matt Dawson)<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/24\/01\/78181171-12785905-image-a-87_1700788219026.jpg\" height=\"795\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Trevor Woodman, Ben Cohen, Kyran Bracken and Lewis Moody also snapped a polariod picture<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/24\/00\/78180679-0-image-a-50_1700786844332.jpg\" height=\"408\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Fly-half Wilkinson kicked the decisive drop goal with just 28 seconds left on the clock\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/24\/00\/78180633-0-image-a-48_1700786749288.jpg\" height=\"456\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Martin Johnson skippered the team that lifted the William Webb Ellis trophy after beating Australia<\/p>\n<p>But the former centre joked that his old team-mates were hardly recognisable from their heyday, claiming that they &#8216;just look like 31 really old men&#8217;.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;We were all sat down and it just looks like 31 really old men now!&#8217; he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Catty (Mike Catt) I haven&#8217;t seen for ages, who I played with for a long time for Bath as well as England, but he&#8217;s been doing wonderful things with Ireland so I just haven&#8217;t seen him.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;It&#8217;s been very nice. Very surreal, but very, very nice.&#8217;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/rugbyunion\/article-12785905\/England-Rugby-World-Cup-2003-Jonny-Wilkinson.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>England&#8217;s 2003 Rugby World Cup heroes reunite for the first time in two decades to celebrate the 20-year anniversary of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298515,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>England&amp;apos;s 2003 Rugby World Cup heroes reunite for the first time - All My Sports News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/rugby-union\/englands-2003-rugby-world-cup-heroes-reunite-for-the-first-time\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"England&amp;apos;s 2003 Rugby World Cup heroes reunite for the first time - 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