Parade plans drawn up

England's Rugby World Cup heroes are on their way home today to be greeted by an ecstatic nation.

As the team boarded their plane - renamed Sweet Chariot in their honour - at Sydney they showed off the Webb Ellis Cup. Fans will be out in force to meet them when they touch down at Heathrow at 4.55am tomorrow.

The Rugby Football Union plans to stage a victory parade next month, taking in a Downing Street reception with Tony Blair and procession along Regent Street, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, Parliament Square and The Mall, before a possible audience with the Queen.

The team members will travel in two open-top coaches alongside their wives and girlfriends, recalling England's 1966 football World Cup winning side's parade down the Edgware Road to the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington.

A handful of the thousands of England fans who had flown out for the dramatic final were sharing the flight back.

Graham York, 37, a businessman from Salisbury, said: "It is going to be a great honour to be on the same flight as the team. I can't wait. What they have achieved is truly fantastic."

The players have spent the time since Saturday's gripping game celebrating their historic 20-17 win, which was watched by up to 15 million people in the UK and 300 million worldwide.

As a measure of their achievement even the dejected Wallabies' fans returning home from Sydney's Telstra stadium applauded the players as their coach left.

But Jonny Wilkinson, whose last-minute extra-time drop kick gave England victory, said he was saving his celebrations for the team's return to the UK.

He confessed to having no more than "a couple of beers" and said he wanted to absorb England's victory before letting himself go.

"There are times for letting yourself go, but Saturday night I just wanted to let it all soak in. Having done it I wasn't ready to suddenly break out into all-night party mode," he added.

"Doing that lap of honour at the end was fantastic. I went round for much of it on my own, partly to get away from the cameras, but largely because that enabled me to savour the atmosphere more. It was truly amazing."

Captain Martin Johnson said: "I still haven't taken it in. Maybe that's the enormity of the prize, maybe it's the frantic, tense style of victory."

Coach Clive Woodward and the team have received praise from around the country for both their victory and the manner of its making.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: "The Queen has sent a message to Clive Woodward congratulating the team on a great victory."

Prince Harry, who was at the match and celebrated with some of the team, said: "Both teams played brilliantly and it was a final I shall never forget."