England can win Cup...by royal command

The Queen is backing Jonny Wilkinson to help win the Rugby World Cup for England and her words of encouragement will be read out to the team just before tomorrow's big game against South Africa.

She revealed her interest during a reception at Buckingham Palace while talking to Andrew Chalmers, chairman of New Zealand Rugby League.

Mr Chalmers said: "We were talking about the big sporting weekend. She said she was looking forward to watching England play and hoping for a victory."

New Zealand player Clinton Toopi said: "We just mentioned how Jonny Wilkinson helped England and she piped up and said about his kicking ability and how well he had played. She said she wanted England to win."

The Queen has sent the team a handwritten note to be delivered by the Princess Royal. She will hand it to Brian Ashton, who will read it out to the team in the changing rooms just before kick-off.

The game in Paris is expected to be seen by 25 million viewers around the world, a record for a rugby match.

Gordon Brown will be joining the thousands of England fans at the match after the organisers and the Rugby Football Union gave the Prime Minister a ticket.

The RFU has also handed tickets to Tory leader David Cameron, Culture Secretary James Purnell and sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe.

Keen rugby fans Princes William and Harry will also be cheering on the team at the Stade de France. The players will pocket £116,000 each if they beat the favourites. This is more than double what younger players such as Paul Sackey are paid by their clubs in a year. But the win bonus still pales in comparison to Premiership players' pay packets - Chelsea's Andriy Shevchenko earns more in a week.

England captain Phil Vickery said victory would be the "ultimate sporting achievement" after their chances had been completely written off.

Vickery has helped drag England back from the disastrous 36-0 loss to the Springboks five weeks ago and is now 80 minutes away from leading his country to history making back-to-back World Cup triumphs.

Having helped England lift the trophy in Australia four years ago, Vickery knows what it takes to land the biggest prize in the sport and said: "Because of the combination of having won it for the first time in 2003, then the whole set of circumstances like the changes and defeats that we have had since, if we were to win again, it would be the ultimate sporting achievement all time for me.

"Now we have got the chance to make history and it is going to be the biggest game of my career.

"I do not want to go home as a beaten finalist and it will be a massive occasion and we will rightly be the underdogs.

"I just hope we can hold it together to make it the greatest night for English rugby. To win back-to-back World Cups, to defend the trophy, is a huge ask for any team, at any level, in any sport."

The Springboks are on a reported bonus of £72,300.49 if they win. The South Africans were hoping to recreate the magic of their 1995 win in Johannesburg by inviting former president Nelson Mandela to watch the final but he cannot travel to Paris. Mr Mandela has sent a "good luck" video message.