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Time for Tait to stand tall

Time for Tait to deliver on the biggest stage of all

The World Cup Final is the biggest of all games. The pressure will mount gradually this week and come to a crescendo on Saturday night in Paris.

So where better a stage to perform to your dazzling best, to showcase your talents to the world, to stand tall and deliver the performance of a lifetime, to take your country to World Cup glory? All this and more is possible for every player on Saturday.

For England to return home with the Webb Ellis trophy, again, they will need a stellar display, although the key to their success does not lie at the feet of Jonny Wilkinson, or with the brute strength of their pack, but with the guile of Mathew Tait.

If ever a player was due a performance worthy of a champion it is the fleet-footed Newcastle centre. His credentials are right up there with the best of them, yet over the past year you can't help but think he has failed to fulfil his burgeoning potential.

A disastrous Test debut against Wales may have knocked his confidence, but that is a distant memory now as Tait looks to establish himself as a world class player. More than that he is out to prove he is capable of delivering when it really matters, and this Saturday it really does matter.

On several occasions this World Cup we have seen flashes of brilliance, glimmers of the undoubted talent he has. Yet no sooner does the eye catch a rare sparkle than it is clouded over again. The time is right for Tait to leave us lost for words as he puts together a glittering display of rugby.

Such a display, if it issues forth, could well be the catalyst that sparks England and sends them surging forward to the ultimate prize.

The key to such a performance lies with those around him too. If Jonny Wilkinson and Mike Catt can manoeuvre Tait into a sliver of space he has the ability to do the rest.

What's more is that Tait has done it before against South Africa. When all around him crumbled in the Pretoria heat back in June, Tait stood resplendent, turning in a display full of finesse and cunning. The confidence has grown gradually throughout this tournament, much the same as England's has in general, and a lot of that is due to Brian Ashton.

Test sides seemingly always change week to week, and yet it is the consistency in selection in the latter stages of this tournament that has allowed Tait to forget about the pressure and focus on his game. A game, that in all fairness, is as good as they come, and one that Tait needs to have supreme belief in.

His opposite man Jacque Fourie has bordered on the arrogant at times over the past month, and a repeat attitude on Saturday could prove costly. While he is a solid Test player he is by no means an exceptional talent, and any slip in concentration will be clinically punished by Tait.

Whilst Fourie is a strong tackler he will do well to match Tait for footwork and acceleration, finer details that Tait will only be too aware of. It is his acceleration and outright pace that will do the damage, as once through the gap he is a hard man to stop. Fourie will do well to leave François Steyn to his own devices in defence and focus solely on the potentially troublesome Tait.

Time then for England to unshackle their attacking prowess and provide Tait with the platform to deliver from, and maybe, just maybe, help them etch their names in the history books.

By Marcus Leach