The Men in the Arena

CAST OF CHARACTERS

featuring

FROM AUSTRALIA

Eddie Jones: Head coach. 'I didn't have any athletic gifts, so I became a competitor. I fought. You've got to find some other ways of being in the game.'

Mat Rogers: Fullback. Son of a rugby league legend. 'He was my hero - he was every kid's hero back then. He'd just get swarmed by people. I'd stand there in awe at how adored he was.'

Wendell Sailor: Wing. Fast, powerful, the life and soul of the party. The gregariousness hides deep scar tissue. 'You can call me Wendell, Big Del, the People's Champion, whatever you like, mate.'

Stirling Mortlock: Centre. Terminator. Scary in attack and defence. 'I was on the boat when the crocodile nearly ate half our team.'

Elton Flatley: Centre. Deadly with the boot. 'You know you're a kicker when you start enjoying those pressure moments.'

Lote Tuqiri: Wing. Born in Korolevu, Fiji. Iconic rugby league star who switched to union. 'There was a fair bit of racism. I copped it. It got my back up, I've gotta say. It gave me a bit of a fire.'

Stephen Larkham: Fly-half. Introvert. Rugby genius. Nicknamed 'Bernie' after the corpse in Weekend at Bernie's. 'It was 6.30, only an hour-and-a-half before the game and we're all standing around fighting to hold back tears.'

George Gregan: Scrum-half. Captain. Best No.9 in the world. 'I had a beer with Eddie Jones. He said, "Mate, we're going to change the way rugby is played."'

Bill Young: Prop. Underestimated but wily. 'If you'd told me I would play forty-six Tests for the Wallabies, I'd have been delirious.'

Brendan Cannon: Hooker. Lucky to be alive after a near fatal car crash in his teens. 'I woke up with ambulance and firemen around me. It took them ninety minutes to cut me out. I got taught about the fragility of life that day.'

Al Baxter: Prop. An architect chasing a dream. 'The reason I liked rugby was whacking into people - and as a front-rower your job is whacking into people.'

Justin Harrison: Second row. Nicknamed Goog because in Australia a googy egg is a bad egg. Handy with his fists. 'I was brought up in the Northern Territories, so the sport of staying alive was all I really played up there.'

Nathan Sharpe: Second row. A giant at 6ft 8in. 'When I made my debut for Queensland I was just so scared of letting down the guys. I didn't want them to say, "Who's this young guy? He's not up to it." I pretty much approached my whole career that way.'

George Smith: Blindside flanker. King of the breakdown. 'Eddie Jones recognised early that I played a different game to other back rowers. I was one of his favourites.'

Phil Waugh: Openside flanker. Dynamo. His teammates think he's slightly psychotic. 'It was just a willingness to work. Nothing can replace hard-work.'

David Lyons: No.8. A farmer's boy. The power in the Wallaby back row. 'I grew up in the bush, working with my old man. It's good for kids to start work early. It was a great childhood.'

Jeremy Paul: Hooker. World Cup winner in 1999. A Maori who moved to Australia at thirteen: 'Dad worked in freezing works and abattoirs all his life. Mum, same thing. Blue-collar workers.'

Matt Dunning: Prop. Wide-eyed and callow. 'I wasn't actually allowed to play rugby until I was twelve because Mum was worried I'd get injured.'

Matt Cockbain: Second row. World Cup winner four years earlier. Enforcer. 'You each had a job in the team and my job was to try and hurt as many people - legally - as I could.'

Matt Giteau: Centre. World-class tyro. 'I grew up playing rugby league. I didn't enjoy union for the first couple of years, couldn't understand it.'

Joe Roff: Wing. Prodigious try-scorer. A World Cup winner in 1999. 'You talk to most of the players from that period and they'll say Eddie Jones was the best coach they ever had.'

FROM ENGLAND

Clive Woodward: Head coach. Will let nothing stand in the way of his ambition. 'I was probably more surprised than anyone when they chose me. I was shitting myself.'

Josh Lewsey: Fullback. Former military man. Calm under pressure. Ruthlessly competitive. 'Leaving the army was the hardest decision I ever made.'

Jason Robinson: Wing. Fastest feet in the game. Born-again Christian desperate to move on from his troubled past. 'The way I saw it, if I didn't know where I was going, the opposition certainly didn't know where I was going.'

Mike Tindall: Centre. A tank. Central to the England midfield defence. 'I said to Mortlock, "Fuck me, mate, you better play well today because I'm going to be fucking awesome."'

Will Greenwood: One of the best centres in the world. Has experienced the tragic loss of his baby son. 'Freddie was alive for just under an hour. It was rugby that allowed me an escapism, that brought me out of that.'

Ben Cohen: Wing. Prodigious try-scorer. Haunted by the death of his father. Nephew of a famous England World Cup winner. 'It's weird when you look back on it, the parallels that exist with 1966 when my uncle George won the World Cup.'

Jonny Wilkinson: Fly-half. Young superstar with the world at his feet and the weight of a nation on his shoulders. 'Am I happy? Happiness is a bit of a destination. I like to see the question more as: "Am I grateful to be alive?"'

Matt Dawson: Scrum-half. Perfect foil to his fly-half. 'When anybody plays against England, it's the biggest game they're ever going to play. It's an unarguable fact. I know there's an element of arrogance around that, but in the same breath, fucking get over it.'

Trevor Woodman: Prop. A late-comer from Cornwall. Dynamic and powerful. 'Two days after my first start, I injured my neck. The disc completely ruptured which meant I needed surgery. I rehabbed with a guy called Don Gatherer, doing all kinds of stuff that other people weren't doing. I went there three times a week for twelve weeks, a three-hour round trip - all these things you do to try to keep your dream alive.'

Steve Thompson: Hooker. Converted flanker. Immensely powerful. Difficult past and upsetting present. Has spoken powerfully about his battle with dementia. 'I don't know how long I have. Some people go ten, fifteen years with it, maybe more.'

Phil Vickery: Prop. The Raging Bull. Humble Cornish roots. The best tight-head in the world. 'Myself and Trev and Thommo got together, said our little bits, banged our heads together. "Let's go do it for each other and for everyone else. We're going to get one chance at it."'

Martin Johnson: Second row. Captain. Legend. 'When you're winning, everyone's fantastic. Bit of pressure? That's when you find out what you're about.'

Ben Kay: Second row. Fast and athletic, he has fought off serious contenders to partner Johnson. The big brain of the England pack. 'We were convinced the Aussies were spying on us.'

Richard Hill: Blindside flanker. A quiet assassin. 'By 2001 we'd established that Hill-Dallaglio-Back partnership and were starting to think as a unit. We could read each other's games perfectly.'

Neil Back: Openside flanker. A fitness fanatic. Some say he's too old. 'Too old? You're either good enough or you're not. If people say you're not good enough, then fair enough. But too old? That doesn't mean anything.'

Lawrence Dallaglio: No.8. Lantern-jawed, half-Italian, half-Irish heartbeat of the pack. 'It was carnage. No one could speak. Players were sprawled on the floor, others were vomiting in the bins, I was retching.'

Jason Leonard: Prop. Veteran of the 1991, 1995 and 1999 World Cups. World-class operator on the field, hollow-legged centre of the party off it. 'You learn to deal with different referees in different ways. André Watson was a "Yes, sir", "No, sir", "Three bags full, sir" kind of guy. Whatever André said was right.'

Lewis Moody: Flanker. The Mad Dog. Bundle of energy, willing (indeed, happy) to stick his head where others would fear to tread. 'People look at the England and Leicester teams I played for and say, "Oh, it must have been amazing playing with best mates." But there were plenty of guys in those sides that, actually, I didn't like at all. But I respected them.'

Mike Catt: Fly-half-cum-centre. South African-born playmaker capable of unlocking defences with slick hands, clever kicks and incisive running lines. 'There were no excuses.'

Iain Balshaw:...