Australia prop forward James Slipper said his side want to end England’s dreams of World Cup glory on home spoil next year as payback for the Red Rose brigade’s success ‘Down Under’ in 2003.
Jonny Wilkinson’s extra-time drop goal saw England lift the Webb Ellis Cup at Australia’s expense with a 20-17 victory in a thrilling final in Sydney.
England and Australia meet again at Twickenham on Saturday in what will be both sides’ final international of the year.
The match will take place less than a year from their pool clash at the 2015 World Cup in England.
Slipper was only 14 when England became the first and so far only northern hemisphere side to win the World Cup but the memory remains vivid for the front-row forward.
“I was pretty young but it was extremely disappointing, I thought we had it in the bag,” Slipper said in London on Tuesday.
“The brilliance of Jonny Wilkinson to steal the show, in Australia, was hard to take and I don’t think there’s one Australian rugby fan who has forgotten it.”
Slipper added: “It was a long time ago but we’ll meet again next year in the World Cup pool of death so hopefully we can make amends.
“Would we like to spoil England’s party? Oh yes, that would be great.
“It’s going to be tough to beat England at Twickenham in a World Cup but to put a bit of revenge on them for 2003 would be great.”
New Zealand’s triumph on home soil in 2011 means there are now three teams to have been crowned world champions on two occasions — the All Blacks, South Africa and Australia.
While New Zealand and South Africa are the favourites for World Cup glory next year, Australia are more of an outside bet to become the first nation to win a third World Cup title.
However, Slipper said: “Every Australian knows it, everyone wants to do it — we’d love to win the World Cup and to be the first country to win three would be amazing.”
“You know Australians, we like to back the underdog.
“I’m sure we are the underdogs going into the World Cup but we know we’re doing the work, training hard and we’ve got that goal between the whole squad that we want to win it.
“We want to be the first country to win three. For us that’s our main priority and playing against England this weekend is a good test to see where we’re at.”
