World Cup-winner and Eurosport expert Neil Back thinks England can come up with the goods in Saturday's final.

When I was asked at the start of this World Cup whether England could win, there was always a long pause before I gave my answer. But now, I am delighted to say, the pause has got much, much shorter.

My heart always felt England could win it, but my head told me otherwise. Well, now my heart and my head are on the same wavelength.

I will be the first to admit that England have surprised me, especially after their build-up to the tournament and form in the early games. But fair play to them - they have proven us all wrong.

They have clearly demonstrated that they have a team to win tight games and this comes down to the experience of playing knockout rugby in the UK and Europe, something the southern hemisphere players do not necessarily have.

England have also shown us that there is more than one way to skin a cat. Four years ago we were the best prepared side going into the tournament, with the best record.

This time, England were ranked eighth, their away form was abysmal, they were unsettled and did not know their best side. The turnaround has been spectacular.

I think it's fair to say South Africa will be slight favourites going into the final, but the last three games against the Springboks, which England have lost, will have no bearing on the final.

The Boks may have won 36-0 in the group stages, but I know from experience that it is possible to turn around a heavy defeat. I remember a couple of years back when Leicester lost 33-0 to Ulster in the European Cup one week, and then the next we beat them 40-6 at Welford Road.

There will be a healthy fear and respect for the Springboks - after all they are a decent side - but if anything this will benefit the England players.

England made a number of mistakes in their group loss to South Africa and they will know that if they keep these to a minimum on Saturday then they stand a great chance of becoming the only side to successfully defend the World Cup.

We saw against Argentina that the Springboks can take full advantage from errors and turnovers, so England will focus very much on cutting these out.

So I expect England to continue with their very simple game plan, which is based around doing the basics right and kicking for territory.

France tried to play a similar way in the semi-final, but while it may have worked against New Zealand in the earlier round they were not able to produce the same control against England.

One of the key aspects of England's victory over France was the way they attacked their throw to the back of the lineout.

(Rafael) Ibanez kept finding his men at the back early in the game, but as soon as England began to challenge at the back they were forced to throw to the front or middle and this cut down their options.

In some respects it is a shame to see France lose sight of their traditional attacking strengths, but there has been a lot of kicking in this World Cup as teams look for the safest way to break down defences.

The fact that England have finally settled on what they see as their best 22 has clearly helped them. They have used something like 90 players since the last World Cup, but recently there has been consistency in selection and that has made a huge difference.

I was also delighted to see one of our Tigers players Dan Hipkiss get the chance to show what he could do against France. I am confident that Dan will become a regular at centre for England in the future and if he gets a chance in the final then he will not let anybody down.

As for this week, there is not much England can do in terms of fitness - they can't get any fitter - so they will take it easy in training, walking through their patterns, as opposed to running through them, and spending only a limited time on the scrum machine.

There will be a few nerves around, but that is normal. What is apparent to me is that this squad now think they can win the World Cup, which is something we all thought impossible six weeks ago. There is an obvious spring in their step, which comes from winning.

Leicester have a home game with Worcester on Saturday so that will be taking up most of my attention this week. We have lost our last two matches so we've had a little soul searching to do. But we're not going to panic because we could have won both games and there's not a lot we have to fix.

As for Saturday, I'll probably watch the final at home, where I have watched most of the game. There will be a big crowd in the Leicester clubhouse but I find all the chat and noise a bit of a distraction.

I also find the experience of watching hugely draining. In my mind, I feel I'm out there on the pitch trying to make the tackles, get to the breakdowns first, etc!

I will text messages of good luck to the England players later in the week. They have shown us that they now know how to win games and I think they have a great chance. After a difficult start they have done the country proud and my hopes and wishes go out to every one of the players.

Eurosport