Where to watch our heroes

Not long to go before those 80 testosteronefuelled minutes of Neanderthal behaviour that could end in England's greatest ever success on the sporting battlefield.

Few, if any, televisual feasts would normally entice us from our beds at 9am on a winter's Saturday morning, but we are a country united by the euphoria of expectation.

And it's not just the die-hard England rugby fans who are getting caught up in the thrill of the occasion. The housewives of Middle England have long been eyeballing the young Jonny Wilkinson as a prospective son-in-law, young girls have learned how to paint the George Cross on their faces, and men (many of whom don't have the figure for it) are brazenly sporting the smart new figure-hugging Lycra tops as worn by our heroes throughout this Rugby World Cup. Even the insouciant Celtic nations will find it hard to feign a lack of interest at the goings-on at Sydney's Telstra stadium tomorrow morning.

There is also the not-insignificant matter of the Australian team to contend with first, of course, and with an estimated 250,000 native Aussies resident here, the atmosphere in London's pubs and bars is expected to be appropriately high-spirited and charged with partisan banter.

Most places will be opening at 8am tomorrow, and nearly all are offering breakfasts along with your earlymorning pint. The day will start earlier, though, at The Sports Café on Haymarket, with queues expected for the 7.30am opening and the standingroom-only spaces. The restaurant booths and tables were snapped up by cunning punters several weeks ago.

The Clapham Grand nightclub will have barely shifted the debris from tonight when they'll be opening the doors again at 8.30 in the morning. The Grand is threatening to hold one of the biggest parties in town, with a crowd of up to 1,550 people gathered in front of a 40-square-metre rearprojection screen - the biggest of its kind in the UK. Entry is free to the main floor where it is standing only, and £25 buys you a lounge seat or booth on the balcony, which you can reclaim against your bar bill.

There isn't a better rugby pub in London than The Sun Inn on Parkshot, Richmond, opposite the station. This is where you find many of the England players after a home game at Twickenham, and the place is packed with rugby memorabilia. The Sun is a traditional old pub, serving cracking Fuller's ales and expertly run by rugby fans Joe and Margi Clarke, who will be up at the crack of dawn preparing a feast for the occasion.

For those who want to be near the spiritual home of rugby in Twickenham, the devilishly handsome St Margaret's Tavern, directly opposite St Margaret's railway station, has four plasma-TV screens, a superb list of real ales and Continental beers, and will be serving full English breakfasts. It's run by an Irishman, Oisin Rogers, who assures me he's not bitter about Ireland's narrow defeat to Australia in the pool round, but he will be hoping England manage to exact revenge.

Aussies, meanwhile, will be having a ripper time in Fulham Broadway at the Slug & Lettuce - or The Fulham Slug, as they have christened their long-adopted venue. And, boy, do they know how to party. An all-day hooley is planned with drinking games, live music and DJs. A disorderly queue is expected to form in the early hours.

Sophisticated Australians, and I am reliably informed by the Australian High Commission that such beasts do exist, will be having a private gathering at the humorously named Duck & Dingo bar in the bowels of the Commission's offices on the Strand. Australians in need of emergency help might want to wait until later in the day for assistance.

In Earl's Court, the unofficial capital of Oz, The Prince of Teck pub will be home to both English and Australian fans. I am assured by its operations director, Richard Coltart, that this is not a problem. "There's never any bother with a rugby crowd," he tells me. "They shout and scream a lot, and many take leave of their senses, but they're pussycats at heart."