Rugby World Cup Final 2015
October 31, Twickenham Stadium, London, England

HEAD-TO-HEAD (All-time meetings)
N. Zealand 105 Australia 42 Draws 7 
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NEW ZEALAND
Coach
Steve Hansen
Captain: Richie McCaw
World Cup record W43 L6
Best finish Winner 1987, 2011

Aiming to be first team to win back-to-back titles – 48 wins in 53 matches since victory over France in 2011 final

Coach Michael Cheika
Captain: Stephen Moore
World Cup record W39 L8
Best finish Winner 1991, 1999

Arguably tougher route to final, beating England and Wales before controversial win over Scotland in quarter-final
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Dan Carter Record points scorer, set for first World Cup final after missing 2011 with injury

Bernard Foley Australia will need fly-half to be at his kicking best
to compete with Carter
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ROAD TO FINAL
Match 1  Uruguay 65-3      Argentina  26-16
Match 2  Fiji 28-13        Namibia 58-14    
Match 3  England 33-13     Georgia 43-10          
Match 4  Wales   15-6      Tonga 47-9    
Q-final  Scotland 35-34    France 62-13      
S-final Argentina 29-15    S. Africa 20-18
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TEAM STATISTICS
Points scored 256 205
Points against 80 84
Tries 36 26
Turnovers 45 42
Tackles 551 726
Metres gained 3464 2379
Offloads 53 35
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Key battle: McCaw v Pocock
Turnover balls at breakdown will be crucial
Key men: Savea v  Ashley-Cooper
In-form wingers on opposite sides of pitch
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PROBABLE LINE-UPS
NEW ZEALAND
1 Moody
2 Coles
3 Franks
4 Retallick
5 Whitelock
6 Kaino
7 McCaw (c)
8 Read
9 A. Smith
10 Carter
11 Savea
12 Nonu
13 C. Smith
14 Milner-
Skudder
15 B. Smith

AUSTRALIA
1 Slipper
2 Moore (c)
3 Kepu
4 Douglas
5 Simmons
6 Fardy
7 Hooper
8 Pocock
9 Genia
10 Foley
11 Mitchell
12 Giteau
13 Kuridrani
14 Ashley-
Cooper
15 Folau
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EXCITING ENCOUNTERS: An Antipodean rivalry
World Cup SF, Dublin, 1991
AUS 16 NZL 06
First meeting on neutral soil. David Campese makes inspired reverse pass to
Tim Horan, who scores to send Australia to final

Test match, Sydney, 2000
NZL 39 AUS 35
All Blacks lead 21-0 after just five minutes in front of world record crowd of 109,874 – Australia draw level before Jonah Lomu seals late win

Rugby Ch’ship Sydney, 2015
AUS 27 NZL 19
Wallabies win first meeting in 11 in World Cup warm-up. All Blacks lost same match in 2011 but went on to win World Cup on home turf
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Sources: IRB, Scrum.com Pictures: Getty Images

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