By Gavin Mortimer
History will be made way or the other at Twickenham on Saturday afternoon when Australia and New Zealand contest the final of the Rugby World Cup.
For a start, no country has won the Webb Ellis Cup three times though the Aussies and Kiwis have two titles to their name.
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It's 16 years since Australia last lifted the cup but for New Zealand tomorrow's encounter offers them the chance to become the first nation to retain the trophy.
Winners of the inaugural World Cup in 1987, the All Blacks had to wait until 2011 to get their hands on the cup a second time, but since then they have dominated the sport to such an extent that they are strong favourites on Saturday.
New Zealand have lost just three times in 53 Test matches in the last four years, an extraordinary era of excellence during which they have been expertly led by Richie McCaw. Arguably the greatest player of his generation, McCaw retires from international rugby after the final, as do All Black fly-half Dan Carter, centres Ma'a Nonu and Conrad Smith, hooker Keven Mealamu and Tony Woodcock (who misses the final through injury).
Their departure will leave a void that the All Blacks will take time to fill, but in the short-term McCaw and his teammates will be determined to go out on top. "I don't really care how the game is as long as we win," said the New Zealand skipper when asked if he hoped for a free-flowing spectacle.
Australia are the last team to have beaten New Zealand, inflicting a 27-19 defeat on their neighbours in this season's Rugby Championship. It was the Wallabies first win over the All Blacks in four years and owed much to the superiority of their back-row of Michael Hooper, Scott Fardy and David Pocock. That trio are reunited on Saturday and their battle against McCaw, Kieran Read and Jerome Kaino will be pivotal to deciding the outcome of the final.
So, too, will be the confrontation between Dan Carter and his Australian counterpart, Bernard Foley. The latter has blown hot and cold during the tournament - outstanding in masterminding Australia's 33-13 destruction of England but less imposing in the controversial quarter-final victory against Scotland.
The veteran Carter - the record points scorer in Test match history with 1,579 points - missed the 2011 final because of a groin injury and All Black coach Steve Hansen paid testament to the 33-year-old's resilience to bounce back. "Up until this season he's had a horrific run over a couple of seasons which took away his confidence," Hansen reflected. "Before then everything he touched turned to gold... It doesn't matter who you are confidence is a massive thing in sport. You get that through playing and playing well. When you start playing well it's like a snowball. It gets bigger and bigger and all of a sudden it becomes an avalanche. He's played well and started to really get his inner confidence and self belief. When he's like that he's a pretty special player."
