Redgrave's handed a Royal role

The fact is more countries play union than league although that does not detract from the commitment the teams will show in the World Cup. The Great Britain side has been dismantled to create four sides which makes halting the Kangaroos harder. Minor nations, like Lebanon, are happy just to be here.

The Lebanese squad is based on Sydney players with family links to that country and the emergence of new nations has led to the World Cup organisers withholding the £250,000 for every competing team until a business plan is produced showing how the money will be used to further the game in that country.

South Africa's share of the 1995 profits were withheld because officials were unhappy with their development strategy.

The Cup profits will be an estimated £3 to £4 million and a tournament spokesman said: "The profits are to be held by the international federation and each of the competing countries must submit a business plan to get their share. The countries still get prize money - £40,000 for making the quarters, £50,000 for the semis, £150,000 for runners-up and £300,000 for winning."

Money will not be the motivation for Andy Farrell and his England players tomorrow on a momentous day for the sport. The historic significance of running out at Twickenham as the captain of England's rugby league team is not lost on the Wigan star.

He said: "It will be very special for me and something I will look back on with pride when I finish playing. It's a massive challenge for us. We will have the backing of the crowd in a stadium that creates a great atmosphere."

England and New Zealand are the major threats to Australia who have opted to use Andrew Johns, regarded by many as the best scrum-half in the game, at hooker - the role he accepted in the Kangaroos' 1995 World Cup Final triumph over England.

Johns is relishing the occasion and said: "I've seen a lot of union games at Twickenham and it's a great stadium. When I finish my career, I'll look back and feel honoured to have run out on the hallowed turf.

"England are probably unfortunate to lose players to other nations. Keiron Cunningham is one of the best players I've seen for a while and they'd certainly like to have Iestyn Harris who is with Wales. But they've got Adrian Morley, who is a very tough, uncompromising sort of player. They are match-hardened and playing in their own country, so they will want to play well.

"We're favourites but I've backed enough horses at odds-on to know that sometimes they get beaten. There is no such thing as a sure thing."

In this case, it appears there is for a country that has not lost a Test series in 22 years.