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Was it really only six years ago that England were the best rugby side in the world? That, and more, in our summary of what happened on this week in history.

2003: England win rugby World Cup - November 22

Could the 2003 World Cup have finished any sweeter for England? To win with a Jonny Wilkinson drop-goal against Australia, in Australia, in the final minute of extra time - the country exploded with joy for so many reasons.

Three days after the 20-17 victory the team arrived home to a heroes' welcome then enjoyed an open-top bus ride through London on December 8.

In the 2004 New Years' honours list, coach Clive Woodward was given a knighthood, captain Martin Johnson was awarded a CBE, and most of the squad - including Jonny Wilkinson - received MBEs.

Four pretty miserable years of English rugby followed - until their remarkable renaissance and run to the final of the 2007 World Cup.

1991: Gary Lineker reveals Japan plan - November 20

David Beckham? In America? People gasped when they heard of Becks's Hollywood adventure in much the same way they did on this week 16 years ago when Gary Lineker announced that he would move to the newly-formed J-League the following year.

Lineker constantly battled injury during his two years with Nagoya Grampus Eight and made just 23 appearances - scoring nine goals.

It wasn't all bad though; he picked up the language and is now tri-lingual after becoming fluent in Spanish earlier in his career at Barcelona.

1986: Tyson becomes youngest ever world champ - November 22

It is sometimes easy to forget that before he was a bankrupt, convicted rapist with scary tattoos, Mike Tyson was actually a boxer - and a bloody good one too.

On this week back in 1986, Tyson became boxing's youngest heavyweight champion, aged just 20 years and four months, by knocking out WBC title holder Trevor Berbick in the second round.

Within a year he would be undisputed champion following wins over WBA title holder James 'Bonecrusher' Smith and IBF holder Tony Tucker. He would remain champion until a stunning loss to James 'Buster' Douglas in 1990 - just as his now infamous downward spiral began to gather momentum.

1974: Test cricket debut of Gordon Greenidge and Viv Richards - November 22

There is always a certain amount of risk in giving somebody their international debut, so the West Indies were rolling the dice when they gave two Test debuts in a tough match against India at Bangalore.

Little could anybody have known at the time just what an influence on the game Viv Richards and Gordon Greenidge would go on to have.

Richards would score 8,540 runs in 121 Tests, including an unbeaten 192 in the second Test of his debut series in New Delhi. He was also a handy off-spinner.

Meanwhile, Greenidge would become one of the game's great opening batsmen - helping himself to 7,558 runs (and 19 centuries) in 108 Tests.

Both players were in the WIndies team that won the inaugural World Cup the following year, and helped usher in the Golden Era of West Indian cricket.

1953: England thrashed by Hungary - November 25

Before Hungary came to Wembley on this week 55 years ago, England had never lost to a team outside of the British Isles. The English side that day contained great names like Billy Wright and Stanley Matthews but they were completely outclassed by a Hungarian side that contained the likes of Ferenc Puskas (who scored twice), Sandor Kocsis, and Nandor Hidegkuti (who scored a hat-trick).

Before the Hungarian game English football was completely based upon man-to-man marking but the Eastern European style changed everything as the Hungarian players pulled and dragged the English all over the pitch causing mass confusion - football would never be the same.

Seán Fay / Eurosport