If you're Welsh, mate, all you want to do is beat the Poms

Australians were backing Wales to win the quarter-final against 'arrogant' England in the Rugby World Cup

Even the ticket touts patrolling Brisbane's drizzle-dampened streets had English accents, but while Welsh rugby fans were outnumbered, they could count on the support of 19 million Australians when Wales took on England in the World Cup quarter-finals today.

It was not that the tournament hosts had developed a sudden affection for daffodils or male-voice choirs. But England are the team that Australians love to h

ate and, during the World Cup, "Pommie-bashing" has reached epic proportions.

"We're not arrogant, say Poms" stated a sceptical headline in yesterday's Courier-Mail, the Brisbane-based Queensland newspaper. But the denial - uttered by the English half-back Matt Dawson - went unheeded. The Australian media have decided England are cocky, reclu- sive and unsporting. Ordinary Australians may disagree, but even the most generous enjoy baiting the English.

Criticism of Martin Johnson's men was music to the ears of Paula Cooper, a policewoman from Merthyr Tydfil who spent yesterday afternoon lurking in the bar of the Brisbane Novotel, the Welsh team's hotel. Ms Cooper, 27, who almost swooned as five players walked past, knew her heroes would need all the help they could get.

Today's match was the 111th between the two great rugby nations, with the scoreline standing tantalisingly even: 49 wins apiece and 12 draws since 1881. But the statistic masked the decline of Welsh rugby in recent years, which has seen England spread doom and despondency in the valleys.

The quarter-final at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium was expected to be a formality, until Wales astonished everyone by almost beating the formidable All Blacks a week ago. Suddenly, the Red Dragons' fans were talking excitedly about a new dawn for Welsh rugby.

Ms Cooper, who shouted so much during the New Zealand game that she lost her voice, said nothing would be sweeter than defeating England to reach the semi-finals. "If you're Welsh, all you want to do is beat the English," she said. For expatriates, passions run almost as strong. Swansea-born Neil Sadler, 44, who moved to Brisbane in 1973, becomes "a Welshman for a day" every time that Wales play. Watching the All Blacks match, in which Wales led deep into the game before losing 53-37, was "like watching a dream unfold", he said.

"Everyone is hoping this is the start of a revival. We've gone from being one of the world's top teams to being second-class citizens. When I was young, Wales used to win every year. I'd like to think, one day, those times will return."

The press campaign of vitriol waged against the England team has been spearheaded - strangely enough - by Rupert Murdoch's newspapers, such asThe Australian. After England beat South Africa, a headline on the front page of The Australian's sports section, above a photograph of Jonny Wilkinson, inquired: "Is That All You've Got?"

In the Caxton Hotel, near the stadium last night, Justin Petit, a fan from Plymouth, said there was a simple explanation for the anti-England sentiment: "They're frightened of being beaten."

But Robin Bailey, a Queenslander born and bred, disagreed. "The English came out here saying this was 'their Cup, their turn, their time'," she said. "If it's their time, they'll earn it. But I'd like to see the Welsh give them a run for their money."

The view from the bar: By IoS Poet in Residence Martin Newell

Uncombed landlords open pubs
On weekend mornings.
Quietly, mind you
Through the side-door, bacon sarnies
Then an early beer may find you
Huddled with unshaven others
In the reverb of urinals
When you join these bleary brothers
Waiting for the quarter-finals

Rugby. Here the lantern-jawed
And tugboat-thewed may spend a season
Mauling in a manly fashion
Any player for any reason
Here, the game that bonded families
Or conversely, split them up
Now takes place, igniting passion
In the tussle for The Cup

Here are terms arcane and baffling:
Hooker, Flyhalf, Loose Head Prop
Exercising choice in tackling
Or in kicking: Grub or Pop
Violent yes and yet good-natured
Landlords love the rugby man
Even drunk, he'll mind his manners
Quite unlike the football fan

Stranger straying into the ritual
Ask not where the Welsh fell down
Why Australia hates the English
How the Kiwis gained renown
Only watch the screen, bewildered
Thirty chaps in strange exertion.
- I myself could never grasp it
Several tries but no conversion