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Having been in Australia for almost a year, I’ve witnessed my fair share of Anglo-Australian sporting events, out of many England have emerged clearly second best.

In the lead up to this year’s Rugby World Cup Quarter Final match between the two sides, we have seen some of the worst aspects of such occasions rear their ugly heads yet again. I’m talking about those times when banter almost becomes racist vitriol. This has been most clearly demonstrated by the comments made by the Chief Executive of Australia Rugby Union, John O’Neill, “whether it’s cricket, rugby league or rugby union, we do all hate England.” Harsh words.

Is this sentiment echoed across the nation?

It certainly is, if much of the Aussie media is to be believed, for example, the Channel 10 coverage of the World Cup has featured much England bashing since the tie became the likely outcome of both team’s group efforts. The Australian which today featured Simon Barnes’ of The Times excellent article deriding the Australian Chief Exec for his words, also spoke of how Michael Lynagh is “living with the enemy” (in London).

However, many Australian people (and we should know, we’ve met a lot of them as we’ve circumnavigated this fine continent) seem to have a different view. Many of them we met were positively pleased when Zimbabwe beat their side in the Twenty20 Cricket World Cup, saying that it “served them right” for being too arrogant, too aggressive and just to… well… good.

The ashes are another case in point. When England turned up following the 2005 victory, we too had just arrived in Australia, and it was seen as though there was something of a score to settle. The main reason they wanted revenge? Simple, England had celebrated too much.

I think I am coming, now, to the crux of the issue here. Many Australians, even the most tolerant among them, felt that England had over-celebrated their Ashes success: they saw it as a personal affront that they should show so much glee about beating the Aussies.

The same is true of the Rugby World Cup 2003 success. They think England went overboard, what with bus-top parades and a million people turning up in London to show how pleased they were. They took it personally. But it’s not their fault.

Why?

The media here reported it that way. And there is, in my opinion, something of a difference in culture between the two nations, which I’ll attempt to explain.The English, where sport is concerned, are unused to winning, and genuinely don’t expect to win international competitions. We hope. We don’t expect. However, we love it when we do win, and really go to town with celebrating - for my part, and most people I know, we couldn’t care less that the opposition happened to be Australia in the RWC 2003 Final, we were just really happy to have finally won something. Winning is a rarity, and we love it when it happens.

The Australians, on the other hand, don’t seem to celebrate winning as much. Maybe they are immune to winning? At least, where their national rugby and cricket teams are concerned, this may well be understandable, as they have had more than their fair share of successes (in comparison to England, at any rate). However, they HATE to lose.

I’m not saying that the English enjoy losing, we most certainly do not, however, we have more of a win or lose we’ll have some booze attitude. We’ve seen it all before, and losing is something of an inevitability.

After the 2003 Rugby World Cup, Australians were shown all the English celebrations and told how we were so pleased. This really rubbed it in. It was the Australian media who presented it this way - “look how pleased they are to have beaten us” - and this idea has been echoed in the Channel 10 advertising of the 2007 Rugby World Cup. Even before a ball was kicked, Aussies have been shown an advert which features Jonny Wilkinson’s World Cup winning drop goal and the words “revenge is sweet” plastered all over it. They are constantly reminding - never forget how much you hate the English.

But, they probably don’t, and certainly wouldn’t if they understood that we weren’t celebrating a victory over Australia, no, it was just a rare victory.

As an example to Aussies, I simply point to the celebrations in Geelong this past week after their first AFL Grand Final victory for over 40 years - the place went berserk. There is no sense in saying that they are so pleased because they beat Port Adelaide - they are incidental, it could have been anyone: they would still be as happy to win!

So do all Australians hate England? I don’t think so. They certainly don’t understand us (and we them, for that matter), and the Australian media has to take a large chunk of blame for their overzealous reporting. The Australian media would have everyone believe that the feeling is mutual. It isn’t.

I’ve managed not to discuss the rugby match at all so far. There is the small matter of the Quarter Final to get through, whether we hate each other or not.

I’d expect Australia to win if the game opens up in any way, shape or form, as the English back line is weaker than I have ever seen it. England’s only opportunity lies in the pack, which should dominate at the scrums, though the Australians have come on in leaps and bounds within their front eight in the past two years.

The English centres are particularly weak. I doubt Tait would make it into any of the Southern Hemisphere lineups. Robinson’s return is a boon for England, as his pace and sideways movements can be breathtaking, his fitness, on the other hand, may be questionable - and England need him razor sharp.

England’s only chance to win will be to keep things very tight, and keep going through phases until this pressure results in a kick for field position or for penalty points. With Wilkinson a little sharper than his first two rusty matches, this plan may stand a chance. If Australia are allowed any sort of time or space to get the ball to their backs, inexperienced as Berrick Barnes is, they will be ruthless. England do not have the defense to cope with this scenario.

I’d expect an Australian victory by 15-20 points. However, there is no small part of me that hopes this will not happen after the comments of this week. Working to a tight game-plan, England could hope to stay in contact with the Aussies, and even, given a perfect kicking game, and some exceptional defensive work, nick it by a point or two, though this is unlikely.

I just hope it is a good game.

UPDATE - England Won! See the preview of the England v France Rugby World Cup 2007 Semi-Final here.