Sunday morning dawned with heavy hearts and even heavier heads.

In the end, it was all in vain.

But our battling England team put in a performance to make us cheer... just not enough to beat the resilient Springboks and we should all raise a glass to them as deserving winners.

Even someone who had never seen a game of rugby could not fail to be hooked by the last few weeks of sporting drama.

It was real Roy of the Rovers stuff, albeit with a different shaped ball as England went from an awful drubbing against South Africa in the group games to beat two of the favourites and reach the final.

The mounting national excitement prised even the most ardent Strictly Come Dancing fan away from the sofa and into the local boozer.

At the Duke, in St Clements, Oxford, on Saturday night (and afternoon for a cheeky few) the roof was raised in a crescendo of patriotic bellowing.

And it was the same along every street and in every front room.

Meanwhile, the folk at Bicester Rugby Club had special reason to stand chests puffed out - for one of the Red Rose's brightest stars was an old boy.

Scrum half Andy Gomarsall made all Oxfordshire proud and played as if his life depended on it.

He is rightly given much of the credit in the amazing turnaround in fortunes enjoyed by the team as he went from third choice to undroppable in the course of one game.

His mum Sue admitted his devastation at the result, but Andy has far from let down the nation.

The efforts of him and his teammates in the last few weeks from Marseille to Paris transformed a nightmare into a dream.

Okay, so it was not a fairytale ending. But a purer show of blood and guts determination you will rarely see and, for that, we should all be proud.