England's World Cup-winning rugby stars arrived home to a heroes welcome at Heathrow Airport this morning.
An estimated 6,000 fans converged to greet their heroes with renditions of "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" being heard all around Terminal Four long before the British Airways flight BA 00016 touched down.
Captain Martin Johnson emerged first from the jumbo jet, specially renamed Sweet Chariotfor the occasion, holding the Webb Ellis Trophy aloft.
Johnson, flanked by coach Clive Woodward and drop goal-final winner Jonny Wilkinson, was met on the tarmac by the British Minister for Sport Richard Cabourn and a battery of television and press cameras.
The fans, many of whom had spent the night at the airport, had to wait a little longer. There were chaotic scenes in the arrival lounge where fans competed with the media scrum for a view.
There was also traffic jams outside as supporters from near and far arrived at Heathrow in the early hours. With the short term car park overflowing, motorists were diverted to the business car park. But many supporters, fearing they were going to miss the welcome home party, risked fines by abandoning their cars on slip roads and grass verges.
Many supporters who had brought shirts and rugby balls to be autographed were disappointed because of the sheer weight of numbers and police, anxious to avoid problems caused by crowd congestion, tried to quickly usher the players through.
The England players, tired, after their 24-hour flight, looked stunned by the size of the welcome.