It has been four years in the making, this Saturday rugby fans all over the world, will be tuning in to watch an all Southern Hemisphere Rugby World Cup final, between rivals New Zealand who are the current holders, and Australia.
Both sides will take to the famous stadium of Twickenham - nicknamed the ‘Home of Rugby’ - as they are set to battle it out in what many are saying will be one of the most exciting finals, in World Cup history.
New Zealand’s journey to back to back finals
What more is there to say about New Zealand? Every superlative has been offered to the New Zealand team, in recent times, but they continue to impress, no more so than with their demolition of a shell shocked France.
New Zealand, due to their status as World Champions and their last four years of dominance in the rugby world after they have lost just once in 2015, to Australia in the Investec Cup. New Zealand got revenge the very next week with a, 41-13 thumping however, New Zealand were drawn into a fairly easy group.
In the World Cup they were drawn alongside; Argentina, Georgia, Tonga and Nambia. As expected, the All Blacks came out of the group winning all four games, scoring 174 points and conceding just 49 points. It is even more impressive that they were able to rotate their stating XV, throughout these fixtures.
In the quarter-finals, France were given the tough task of defeating the reigning champs, it is a task they failed it miserably. Nine tries and one penalty later, the French were sent running back home, on the back of a 62-13 pasting. It was a match which really showed the power and skill, of the Southern Hemisphere compared to their Northern counterparts. No one was more impressive than explosive winger, Julian Savea, the new Jonah Lomu, according to the New Zealand support, singly destroyed the French side on his way to an impressive hat-trick.
New Zealand followed this up in the semi-finals, with an extremely tense and toughly fought match against South Africa which they squeezed past 20-18, thanks to tries from, Jerome Kaino and Beauden Barrett respectively. Defensively the All Blacks really showed up here, only conceding penalties and a drop goal and a single try.
News has gotten even better for the All Blacks, with captain and talisman, Richie McCaw not being cited for an alleged elbow, during the Springboks game.
Australia’s journey to yet another World Cup Final
The Wallabies can boast that they have been in three World Cup Finals, out of a possible seven, winning two of them and losing one of course to that famous Johnny Wilkinson drop goal in extra time.
Just like their rivals the All Blacks, the Wallabies went undefeated in their group stage, against much more highly recognised names. They beat Uruguay and Fiji in the opening weeks, then moved on to England when the home side had to win to keep their chances alive. When all the pressure would be on Australia not to buckle under the home crowds vocal support for England, they dominated the game and ran away from England 33-13, in a match where they outclassed the hosts, knocking them out in the process.
Last but by far not least, they faced up to the brute strength of Wales. It was not as exciting as the England for those who enjoy point’s fests, but for those rugby fans who adore truly remarkable solid defensive work, then this Australia performance was the one for them. One particular passage of play, saw Australia make multiple try saving tackles in just one minute, resulting in them finally earning a penalty for a Welsh holding on call.
Onto the quarter finals, came arguably the most controversial game in the World Cup so far. The Wallabies took on the only remaining Northern Hemisphere side in the tournament, in Scotland, who had the rugby world behind them. In a game which many thought, was going be one sided, Australia needed a controversial penalty decision from referee Craig Joubert, to beat the defiant Scots 35-34.
The semi-final against Australia was by no means an easier fixture, but a hat-trick by winger Adam-Ashley Cooper, saw them down the spirited Argentines 29-15, as they moved on to yet another World Cup final.
The key player for each side
When it comes to both these sides, it is ridiculously hard to pick a single man who is the key for both sides’ chances, in the final. There are simply too many players to choose from, but a choice will have to be made despite the controversy.
For the holders and favourites for the match, New Zealand, arguably the most vital player is shockingly not Julian Savea, or Dan Carter or even Kieran Read. It is the captain and leader, the open side flanker legend Richie McCaw. He is worshipped like a living God by the All Blacks faithful, while despised by fans of every other nation. But one thing that remains consistent, is that everyone who knows rugby, knows McCaw is one of the best players to ever play the game.
A man who breaks the rules more times than should be physically possible in a match, but he always manages to find a way to get away with this. Why? Because he knows exactly what he is doing and he is smart enough to know when to do it. Look at the France quarter final, France were 16 points down, but had found all the momentum, so what does the All Blacks captain do? He provokes Louis Picamole, with three penalties in about ten seconds - none of which were spotted by the offcial, which results in the French number eight hitting McCaw and being sin-binned. The result? The game was out of sight when Picamole returned to the field. Not maybe correct but genius by McCaw.
But of course there is far more to him than just bending the rules, he can do literally anything an open side flanker needs to do and more. With him retiring after this game, he is the key man for New Zealand.
For Australia, the key man is their fly half Bernard Foley. Everything the backs do, goes through the fly half, he is the play maker of the team.
Foley, has been extremely impressive so far this World Cup, kicking the majority of his penalties and conversions, constantly opening up running lanes for his centres such as, who may not be playing again for the Wallabies.
Foley is instrumental at doing everything his teams needs him to do, he kicks his points, opens up running lanes for his centres and is defensively sound. However even more importantly he is dangerous on the ball, which means he could target opposing fly-half Carter who isn’t the soundest defensively.
Who will win?
New Zealand are the favourites with the pundits, experts, past players and many of the fans. However Australia, are under a lot less pressure than New Zealand and are still one of the best teams in the world.
Australia have earned their World Cup final spot, they have been arguably the most consistently impressive side this tournament. But they also proved earlier this year that they can in fact defeat the All Blacks. With the pressure more on New Zealand and Australia believing that they can now defeat New Zealand, a shock could very well be on the cards this Saturday at Twickenham.