Rugby: It’s a bit unreal, says Johnson
"We all said to ourselves before the game that we had to enjoy it, take it all in and remember it because you probably won't be back," recalled 33-year-old Leicester star Johnson, against a backdrop of 500 English fans who thronged the promenade outside England's Manly beach-front hotel yesterday.
"It hasn't really sunk in. It's still a little bit unreal, and it will take a few days to sink in.
"We were on the bus on the way back from the game last night. It was about 1.30-1.45 in the morning; the rain was coming down; it was pretty black and quiet, and we had no idea what was going on back home. I am sure we will find out when we get back."
Johnson, one of the greatest players in rugby history, was quickly brought down to earth barely seven hours after lifting the Webb Ellis Trophy.
"One similarity between Leicester and Sydney is that at five o'clock in the morning you couldn't get a cab, and it was pouring with rain!" he added.
"So I had to walk home from where we were to my wife's hotel."
Johnson, the only man to captain two separate Lions tours, has now overseen World Cup glory and Six Nations Grand Slam success in the space of eight months.
He has nothing else to achieve in the game, and there is speculation in some quarters that he might step down from Test rugby sooner rather than later.
"You don't make those decisions now. I said to myself, win or lose, you just take your time when you get home," he added.
"Your career is your career. If we had lost last weekend or in the quarter-final I still would have had a great career and enjoyed it. But I don't play for those reasons, to cross things off and say I've won a World Cup, I've done it all, I've won a Grand Slam I play to enjoy it.
"I will make that decision, however long it takes, before England play again. If you have a bad day you want to retire, and if you have a good day you want to play forever."
As for comparisons with 66, he said: "People love to drag out 1966, and those guys are the legends that they are.
"But we've done our thing, and it's completely different. If we are mentioned in the same breath as them then that's fantastic for us.
"Maybe three or four years ago, we were losing close games. But the last two years, we've mainly started to win them. We've got the winning habit, and I hope we can keep it."
There will be no respite for England's rugby superstars, though, with Johnson and several other players likely to be in Zurich Premiership action next weekend.
The England squad arrives back in the UK tomorrow morning at 4.55am Irish time. "The lads at home have all played more games than we have," Johnson reasoned. "Most of us had six starts in the World Cup, so it's just a mental thing for the guys to get back into it. The European Cup is just around the corner.
"If you play a World Cup final one week and then someone's got with due respect Rotherham away next week it's going to be hard work. But that is what you get paid to do.
"The guys are ready to go home, and I am not saying that in a negative way. We've been a long time away, and a long time in camp.
"If you add up all the weeks we've been away this year Six Nations, summer tour, training camp you are probably looking at about 25 weeks, so it's time to get home."
Head coach Woodward, for whom a knighthood now surely beckons, had spent six years planning his team's assault on global supremacy.
It was their 22nd victory in the last 23 Tests and fifth in a row over Australia, providing stark confirmation that world rugby's officially ranked number one team richly deserve the world title to go with it.
The Wallabies, who gave it everything in terms of trying to successfully defend their world crown, drew first blood through a Lote Tuqiri try but England went for the jugular as half-time approached.
A snappy Matt Dawson pass found number eight Lawrence Dallaglio, who acted as a crucial link to Wilkinson, and his delivery sent Robinson scampering away to register a potential knockout blow.
The second 40 minutes, though with England's line-out a problem area - largely belonged to Australia, a factor reflected by the 9-0 scoreline.
South African referee Andre Watson repeatedly punished England in the set-scrums a renowned area of strong red-rose discipline and they could not shake the Wallabies off.
But just when a capacity 80,000-plus crowd had no nerve ends left to shred, up stepped Wilkinson to put a sword through Wallaby hearts.
AUSTRALIA: Rogers, Sailor, Mortlock, Flatley, Tuqiri, Larkham, Gregan, Young, Cannon, Baxter, Harrison, Sharpe, Smith, Waugh, Lyons.
Replacements: Roff for Sailor (70), Dunning for Young (93), Paul for Cannon (57), Giffin for Sharpe (48), Cockbain for Lyons (57).
ENGLAND: Lewsey, Robinson, Greenwood, Tindall, Cohen, Wilkinson, Dawson, Woodman, Thompson, Vickery, Johnson, Kay, Hill, Back, Dallaglio.
Replacements: Balshaw for Lewsey (84), Catt for Tindall (79), Leonard for Vickery (80), Moody for Hill (94).
Referee: Andre Watson (South Africa).
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