Rugby World Cup win celebrated

The achievements of England's Rugby World Cup winning heroes will be marked by the issue of a special 'WORLD CHAMPIONS' miniature sheet which will be issued on December 19, 2003 and features scenes from the recent final held at the Telstra Stadium in Sydney.

The Royal Mail's Director of Stamps & Collectibles, Gavin Macrae, explained: 'Royal Mail's special stamp programme is for commemorating important events and anniversaries, and winning the Rugby World Cup has been a fantastic achievement'.
Unlike the 2002 football World Cup Royal Mail had no plans for a special issue in place until after the 20-17 victory by England so artwork for the issue took less than two weeks to bring the issue together.
The miniature sheet has a background of the flag of St. George and it also feature the red rose of England as well as being inscribed 'WORLD CHAMPIONS' with the date and venue of the historic victory.
Four stamps feature on the sheet - two 1st class values and two 68p denominations - and they are all taken from photographs supplied by Getty Images. The sheet was printed by Walsall Security Printers.
The 1st class stamps depict a flags photograph by Jon Buckle and a team circle photograph by Mark Nolan, whilst the 68p values are a shot by Odd Andersen of the Rugby World Cup being held aloft by England Captain Martin Johnson and a photograph of some of the team celebrating taken by Greg Wood.
The Commercial Director of the Rugby Football Union, Paul Vaughan, told STAMP MAGAZINE: 'We are really delighted that Royal Mail will be marking the England team's historic victory with a set of stamps that fully capture the excitement, passion and elation of November 22'.
The special issue will also be accompanied by an ENGLAND WINNERS presentation pack (no. M9B) which is fully illustrated and includes the miniature sheet. As well as that there is a first day cover envelope and two pictorial first day of issue postmarks. The postmarks are for Tallents House featuring the 17-20 scoreline and for Twickenham featuring a stylised rugby ball and the 'Swing Low Sweet Chariot' song that is the England team's unofficial anthem. Collectors can send covers to Tallents House and Special Handstamp Centres up to January 30, 2004 to get the postmark applied.