THIS may depress some readers, but on the form the two teams have shown in the Rugby World Cup in Japan, England should comfortably win the final in Yokohama tomorrow morning.

They are the bookmakers’ favourites, the experts overwhelmingly predict an English victory and if they win they will deserve to have done so because they will have beaten all three of the Southern Hemisphere giants. You would just have to take your hat off to them and hope that an English victory doesn’t inspire even greater nationalism in England ahead of the General Election – you can bet Boris will milk it, though. Cue an open-topped bus, a trip to Downing Street and gongs all round.

At this present time, England are ranked No 1 in the world, ahead of South Africa. The official rankings are adjusted every Monday and

no-one can argue that England deserve to be at the top after their epic victory over the All Blacks last weekend.

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In the pool stages, New Zealand beat South Africa so the form line is clear – the All Blacks beat the Boks and England beat New Zealand, so obviously England are going to beat South Africa. Mmmm ...

The main thing that will beat England is England themselves. English arrogance could well be their undoing because they have already been told they are superstars for just getting to the final. Matt Dawson on the BBC website said that if you were choosing a combined England-South Africa XV, it would be all English. Sorry, Matt, but that’s just tosh, as South Africa have at least five or six players who are better than their opposition from the back out – Willie le Roux, Cheslin Kolbe, Damian de Allende, Pieter-Steph Du Toit, Eben Etzebeth and Frans Malherbe would walk into my team.

History shows that World Cup finals are rarely filled with exhibitions of flair. Apart from the All Blacks’ win over Australia at Twickenham the last time out, as well as Australia and New Zealand’s runaway wins over France in 1999 and 1987 respectively, the finals have nearly all been “one score wins” – if the losing side had scored a converted try, the result would have been different.

The 2015 final and the 2007 final were the other exceptions, the latter being a 15-6 win for the Springboks over England. It’s that match that makes me think South Africa can win tomorrow.

I hope I am wrong and we see some champagne rugby, but I suspect we are in for a slugfest as two immensely physical teams try to batter each other into submission. The William Webb Ellis Trophy will be won and lost in the forwards and though I think the likes of Maro Itoje and Sam Underhill are wonderful players, the collective eight of South Africa can edge the contest for possession and domination – and they have six forwards on the bench which shows the way Rassie Erasmus is thinking.

Behind the scrum everything will depend on the tactics deployed by Ben Youngs, George Ford and Owen Farrell as instructed by Eddie Jones against the South African trio of Faf de Klerk, Handre Pollard and de Allende. Does either trio make it a kicking game and hope to pin their opponents in their own half, or does someone actually realise that kicking away possession against opponents with pace to burn – that remark applies to both sides – could be suicidal.

Everyone has been talking about England being in the right frame of mind, but South Africa have an indomitable spirit, as they showed in 2007, and in the second half against New Zealand all those weeks ago. And also against Wales, who I thought played out of their skins. It shouldn’t have to be stated, but the Springboks will start with six black players, showing how far rugby has progressed in that country.

I have to be honest and say I very much want South Africa to win because I bet on them each-way after the first game of the tournament and by reaching the final I have at least secured my stake back.

Were there no money at stake, I would probably be neutral with perhaps an inclination to lend my support to England, purely on the grounds that they are coming to Murrayfield on February 8 and wouldn’t it be nice to beat the world champions?

Lastly, turning to football, I think Hearts have made a big mistake in sacking Craig Levein. He should have been given longer to turn things around as he already admitted he knew his jaiket was on a shoogly peg and to paraphrase Dr Samuel Johnson, nothing concentrates the mind more than the prospect of being hanged.

Another three or four games might have seen him make the difference and sacking your manager just three days before a cup semi-final is headless chicken stuff. Or does Ann Budge have a miracle worker lined up to come in before 3pm on Sunday? For losing your manager always affects players.

Craig is a decent man in a sport not replete with them. He’s made mistakes over his career, but I truly hope he finds another position in football before long because the game would be weaker without him. Good luck, Craig.