If this was an invasion, it was an altogether benign one. Enterprising schoolchildren had set up stall on Whitton Road to turn out passable renditions of the New Zealand and South African national anthems and the boerewors and braai stalls were doing an appreciably better trade than those offering pasties and hog roasts.
But beneath the bonhomie, the cutting edge of one of the world’s most keenly contested rivalries on one of the biggest sporting stages added an undercurrent of stomach-tightening intensity amid the barbecue smoke and traders hawking “friendship” scarves.
Once inside a stadium that has become one of the best sporting citadels around, the air was thick with tension that cut through even the fog of smoke accompanying the vaguely ridiculous pre-match fireworks.
If there was the odd grumble that London appeared to have returned to normal before the tournament was over, the visiting hordes were generally positive and trying their best to be magnanimous. But ultimately, and quite rightly, they couldn’t care less.
“We’ve just played better quite frankly. That’s the long and the short. This is the final for us. This is the big one,” said Glen Crooks from Durban. A family from Christchurch nodded their agreement as a gaggle of Kiwis boomed out their national anthem in tuneless fashion.
There were pockets of Australians dotted around Twickenham, too. “It hasn’t affected the atmosphere at all. For everybody who has travelled from overseas it’s been fantastic. The organisation has been sensational,” said John Chappell from Sydney of the fact the hosts had left their own party while everyone else was just settling in.
If the pool stages of this tournament will be remembered partly for the colour and warmth of Japan’s shock victory over South Africa and the quarter-finals for New Zealand’s bewitching dominance over France and much else besides, then the tension of this semi-final had all the grit of a truly heavyweight occasion.
Under slate-grey skies and in unrelenting rain, as the English weather belatedly arrived far too late for the northern hemisphere sides that might have benefited from it, this was unmistakably the business end.
With two points between the sides as they went toe to toe for the final 10 minutes, Twickenham became a rain-soaked cauldron. As the southern hemisphere definitively annexed English rugby’s one-time fortress, the miserably early exit of the hosts seemed like a very long time ago indeed.
In the Rugby World Cup shop, England (and Ireland, Scotland and Wales) merchandise is being flogged off at half-price. Meanwhile, fans of these two rugby superpowers were queuing to hand over their cash for souvenirs of a tournament that has only emphasised their dominance.
Sir Clive Woodward’s influence can sometimes hang over English rugby like a malevolent force, but it was hard to disagree with much that he said on the morning of this first semi-final as he listed its ills.
It was hard to tell whether the Rugby Football Union suits in the banqueting suites were wearing grimaces or smiles. While betraying the skittishness that accompanies an England inquest that threatens to spiral into farce, the fact the tournament has carried on quite happily without them will be both blessing and curse. In their dreams, this was the weekend when the nation would mass as one behind the sport and England would power towards the final. Instead, Radio 5 Live has relegated Sunday’s semi-final to its sister station Sports Extra in favour of the Manchester derby.
Some were trying to recycle their hugely expensive ticket,s and in many quarters the hegemony of Premier League football has been long re-established on the back pages.
Lengthy negotiations over whether Trafalgar Square could be used as a fan zone resulted in a compromise whereby it would host supporters from the semi-finals onwards. As such, it became another element of the southern hemisphere takeover.
With the All Blacks attempting to become the first side to win back-to-back World Cups, it was as though the pressure that had been absent as they cut a swath through France came rushing back in spades.
Yet having spent half-time regrouping in the rain, they eventually showed grit to go alongside the guile that has led many to call this All Blacks side the best ever.
Despite – or perhaps in part because of – the hammer blow of England’s early exit, the organisers remain on course to be able to say the same of their World Cup.
