Venue: Twickenham Stadium, LondonKick-off: 16:00 local/04:00 NZTReferee: Nigel Owens (Wales)Assistant Referees: Jérôme Garcès (France), Wayne Barnes (England)TMO: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)
Head to head: Played 154, New Zealand won 105, Australia won 42, drawn 7
RUGBY WORLD CUP MEETINGS - Australia leads 2-1
2011: New Zealand won 20-6, semi-final, Eden Park, Auckland
2003: Australia won 22-10, semi-final, Stadium Australia, Sydney
1999: Australia won 16-6, semi-final, Lansdowne Road, Dublin
LAST 10 MEETINGS
2015: New Zealand won 41-13, Eden Park, Auckland
2015: Australia won 27-19, Stadium Australia, Sydney
2014: New Zealand won 29-28, Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
2014: New Zealand won 51-20, Eden Park, Auckland
2014: drawn 12-12, Stadium Australia, Sydney
2013: New Zealand won 41-33, Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin
2013: New Zealand won 27-16, Westpac Stadium, Wellington
2013: New Zealand won 47-29, Stadium Australia, Sydney
2012: drawn 18-18, Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
2012: New Zealand won 22-0, Eden Park, Auckland
NEW ZEALAND
Best World Cup results: champions 1987, 2011; runners-up 1995
ROAD TO FINAL
Pool games: bt Argentina 26-16, bt Namibia 58-14, bt George 43-10, bt Tonga 47-9
Quarter-final: bt France 63-12
Semi-final: bt South Africa 20-18
AUSTRALIA
Best World Cup results: champions 1991, 1999; runners-up 2003
ROAD TO FINAL
Pool games: bt Fiji 28-13, bt Uruguay 65-3, bt England 33-13, bt Wales 15-6
Quarter-final: bt Scotland 35-34
Semi-final: bt Argentina 29-15
Analysis: All obvious signs point to an All Blacks victory - they have the historical dominance over Australia, are currently the world No.1 and have been touted as the best team of all time, boasting some of the greatest players. Five of them - McCaw, Carter, Ma'a Nonu, Conrad Smith and Keven Mealamu - are playing their final games for the All Blacks, adding further motivation. But Michael Cheika's Wallabies have shown incredible resilience and their will to win cannot be questioned. Whether it be down two points with time running out, as they were in their quarter-final win over Scotland, or down two men while defending their tryline, as against Wales, the Wallabies have found a way to advance. The trade-off is that those games have sapped the Wallabies greatly, and whether they have enough in reserve to maintain their high octane game and hold off the defending champions is a question to be answered on Sunday morning.
All Blacks by seven.
Betting odds:
New Zealand - $1.35 Australia - $3.00
Teams:
Australia: Israel Folau, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Tevita Kuridrani, Matt Giteau, Drew Mitchell, Bernard Foley, Will Genia, David Pocock, Michael Hooper, Scott Fardy, Rob Simmons, Kane Douglas, Sekope Kepu, Stephen Moore (capt), Scott Sio. Res: Tatafu Polota-Nau, Greg Holmes, James Slipper, Dean Mumm, Ben McCalman, Nick Phipps, Matt Toomua, Kurtley Beale.
New Zealand: Ben Smith, Nehe Milner-Skudder, Conrad Smith, Ma'a Nonu, Julian Savea, Dan Carter, Aaron Smith, Kieran Read, Richie McCaw (capt), Jerome Kaino, Sam Whitelock, Brodie Retallick, Owen Franks, Dane Coles, Joe Moody. Res: Keven Mealamu, Ben Franks, Charlie Faumuina, Victor Vito, Sam Cane, Tawera Kerr-Barlow, Beauden Barrett, Sonny Bill Williams.
Five key World Cup final duels:
Julian Savea vs Adam Ashley-Cooper
Powerhouse winger Savea is on eight tries at this World Cup just one away from the record at a single tournament.
Possessed of both immense strength and sheer pace, the 25-year-old Savea can be deployed as a 'battering ram' when coming inside but is perhaps at his best when given the ball in space and taking on defenders one-on-one.
The experienced Ashley-Cooper may not create quite the same sense of excitement when he receives the ball but he gets through more than his fair share of work in defence and still knows the way to the try-line, a he showed with his semi-final hat-trick against Argentina.
Ma'a Nonu vs Matt Giteau
Two hugely experienced midfielders whose contrasting styles at inside centre have an important part to play in the strategy and tactics of their respective teams.
The powerful Nonu, a ball-carrier who looks to break through the opposition back-line, is set to target the midfield channel being defended by Giteau and Bernard Foley on Saturday.
By contrast Giteau is a more of a distributor, whose kicking out of hand means he acts as a second playmaker to fly-half Foley.
Dan Carter vs Bernard Foley
All Blacks great Carter, Test rugby's all-time leading points scorer, is in his last chance to get a World Cup winners' medal. Injury kept him out of New Zealand's victorious team four years ago and he retires from Tests after the final.
Rival fly-half Foley lived up to his 'Iceman' nickname with a match-clinching penalty against Scotland but has also shown he can play an all-round running game as was proved with two well-taken tries in the Wallabies' Pool A win over England.
Kieran Read vs David Pocock
When breakdown specialist Pocock missed the quarter-final win over Scotland through injury, it almost cost Australia the game with the Wallabies needing a last-gasp penalty for a 35-34 victory. The No.8's ability to force turnovers, and do so quickly, is exceptional. He, as much as anyone, will be central to Australia's chances on Saturday.
Read is one of the best ball-playing No 8s in the game, with handling skills that would shame many a Test back.
Richie McCaw vs Michael Hooper
All Blacks captain McCaw is one of the greatest players the game has know, let alone one of the outstanding back-row forwards of all time.
Brave, committed and highly skilled, he is equally renowned for his ability to both influence referess and avoid detection for offences that cause lesser players to concede penalties.
But in the dynamic Hooper, Australia have a top-class openside of their own with a sharp turn of pace as well as strength in the contact area.
Wallabies plot greatest-ever RWC triumph
By Joe Barton and Darren Walton
It looms as the greatest feat in Australian rugby history.
But, to complete it, the Wallabies must beat what's been described as the greatest team in rugby history in the long-awaited first-ever trans-Tasman World Cup final.
Having fought back from their lowest depths, and survived a brutal draw and two sudden-death match scares, only the defending champion All Blacks stand in the way of the Wallabies and their final frontier at Twickenham on Saturday (Sunday 0300 AEDT).
Both southern hemisphere giants, the world's top two-ranked teams, have a shot at becoming the first nation to lift the Webb Ellis Cup three times.
But for the Wallabies, another victory at the spiritual home of rugby would top the deeds of Australia's champion 1991 and 1999 outfits and complete the most remarkable of coaching feats by master planner, manager and motivator Michael Cheika.
While Bob Dwyer and Rod Macqueen will forever be hailed for plotting Australia's two previous against-the-odds World Cup triumphs, neither coach had to overcome the obstacles Cheika has cleared since taking charge of a squad in disarray barely a year ago.
Even assistant coach Stephen Larkham, a hero of Australia's last triumph 16 years ago, marvels at what the Wallabies' class of 2015 have accomplished in less than half the time that the past two triumphant outfits had to prepare for the global showpiece.
"We've had an accelerated little growth together, whereas in 1999 and 2003 we had two years of preparation," Larkham said of Cheika's 15-Test reign.
"But I'd say these boys are at the stage we were at in particularly 1999 and 2003."
The final shapes as a classic, with the Wallabies facing a formidable All Blacks outfit inspired by outgoing greats Richie McCaw, Dan Carter, Conrad Smith, Ma'a Nonu and Keven Mealamu.
The titleholders' devastating dominance is illustrated in their record of just three losses in 53 Tests since their drought-breaking 2011 World Cup win.
And with just one defeat to the Wallabies in 11 encounters during that period, the All Blacks will start as deserved favourites to become the first team to win back-to-back World Cups.
But the Wallabies have good reason to take confidence dating right back to their 27-19 Rugby Championship-deciding win over the All Blacks in Sydney in August, when the David Pocock-Michael Hooper combo was unleashed.
They are a much stronger team two months following their tough World Cup path and with the return of fit-and-firing halfback general Will Genia and workaholic lock Kane Douglas who didn't play in Sydney.
The All Blacks don't have a mortgage on experience in the final either.
With four Test centurions and 834 caps in the starting line-up, this is the most experienced Wallabies side ever assembled.
The biggest question mark is over how much their campaign - so much harder than New Zealand's has sapped them, and whether they can maintain their high octane, pressure game for the full distance.
As ever Cheika has warned his charges to stay in the moment and disregard the accolades supplied by others.
"I'm not in for the big sweeping statements - I'm a big believer that your next game is the one that proves who you are," he said.
"The minute you start relying on cliches or tags or titles, you'll get pinched. It's happened too many times."
