Leaving Twickenham on Saturday night I had extra reason to thank the tournament that had just been won by New Zealand. The light on the horizon of covering a home World Cup had helped me through six weeks of cancer treatment.

The elation on that final walk from the ground was on a higher scale than the usual pleasure World Cups bring. And at first I was slow to understand the surge of extra sentiment. But then the memory came coursing back of the time I set myself a target of being well enough to be in a press box seat for the England-Fiji opening fixture and to see it through to the final.

Sport is my living, and a passion, too. But I understand it better now, nearly 30 years into the job. Much of the best sports writing is about the life stories that underpin the winning and losing. ‘Adversity overcome’ is a default mode for reporting and broadcasting. A corollary is that sport can help people in the most profound ways, on the field and up in the stands. It can help make sense of life and connect people in difficulty to a world they have fallen out of and to which they fear they may never return.