Final
The final of the 2008 World Cup between Australia and New Zealand was a re-play of the 2000 World Cup's final. The captains of both teams, Nathan Cayless and Darren Lockyer, were the only players in this match who had also played in the 2000 final. Australia went into the match as favourites, having not only won every game of the tournament so far, but each with margins ranging from 24 to 52 points.
| 22 November 2008 19:00 AEST |
Australia | 20–34 | New Zealand | Lang Park, Brisbane Attendance: 50,599 Referee/s: Ashley Klein (England) Man of the Match: Darren Lockyer (Australia) |
| Tries: Lockyer (12', 35') 2 Williams (17') 1 Inglis (65') 1 Goals: Thurston (18', 36') 2/4 |
Report | Tries: 2 (49', 70' pen) Hohaia 1 (24') J Smith 1 (28') Ropati 1 (61') Marshall 1 (76') Blair Goals: 3/3 (25', 28', 50') Luke 2/3 (71', 77') Marshall |
| Australia | Position | New Zealand |
|---|---|---|
| Billy Slater | Fullback | Lance Hohaia |
| Joel Monaghan | Wing | Sam Perrett |
| Greg Inglis | Centre | Simon Mannering |
| Israel Folau | Centre | Jerome Ropati |
| David Williams | Wing | Manu Vatuvei |
| Darren Lockyer (c) | Five-eighth | Benji Marshall |
| Johnathan Thurston | Halfback | Nathan Fien |
| Brent Kite | Prop | Nathan Cayless (c) |
| Cameron Smith | Hooker | Thomas Leuluai |
| Petero Civoniceva | Prop | Adam Blair |
| Anthony Laffranchi | Second-row | David Fa'alogo |
| Glenn Stewart | Second-row | Bronson Harrison |
| Paul Gallen | Lock | Jeremy Smith |
| Karmichael Hunt | Bench | Issac Luke |
| Anthony Tupou | Bench | Greg Eastwood |
| Craig Fitzgibbon | Bench | Sam Rapira |
| Anthony Watmough | Bench | Sika Manu |
| Ricky Stuart | Coach | Stephen Kearney |
The match started after a confrontational New Zealand haka, with Australia choosing to march forward, standing mere centimetres from the New Zealanders. New Zealand almost opened the scoring, Benji Marshall just knocking on in the in-goal area. Australia then struck with two quick tries to captain Darren Lockyer and David Williams, who was a mid-week replacement for the injured Brent Tate. Australia almost scored a third time, however Lockyer was ruled to have knocked on over the goal line in similar circumstances to Marshall's attempt. Australia looked to have full control of the game before Jeremy Smith opened the scoring for New Zealand by busting over right under the goal posts. Four minutes later New Zealand were in again, via an Anthony Laffranchi strip which led to a Jerome Ropati try. With only five minutes before the break, Lockyer scored to put Australia in front 16–12 at half time.
After half time it was the Kiwis who scored first when fullback Lance Hohaia slipped past Lockyer and beat Slater to score. Billy Slater then made a costly error to gift New Zealand their fourth try in the 65th minute. Having fielded a kick, Slater ran close to the touchline and under pressure when about to be pushed out of play, threw the ball backwards over his head in a futile attempt to keep the ball in play. But the ball fell towards Marshall who ran to score an easy try. The Kangaroos closed the gap to 22–20 with a Greg Inglis try before a controversial penalty try put New Zealand comfortably clear. A Nathan Fien kick into the in goal was mishandled by Joel Monaghan who then pulled the collar of Lance Hohaia, unfairly denying him a chance to ground the ball. Adam Blair then scored for New Zealand to seal the win, and the World Cup, for New Zealand.
The game was the Australian team's first loss since Great Britain defeated them in November 2006 and their first loss to New Zealand since November 2005. It was also their first loss in a World Cup match since 1995 and in a final since 1972.
Read more about this topic: 2008 Rugby League World Cup Matches
Famous quotes containing the word final:
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—Thomas Hardy (1840–1928)
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“It is in the nature of allegory, as opposed to symbolism, to beg the question of absolute reality. The allegorist avails himself of a formal correspondence between “ideas” and “things,” both of which he assumes as given; he need not inquire whether either sphere is “real” or whether, in the final analysis, reality consists in their interaction.”
—Charles, Jr. Feidelson, U.S. educator, critic. Symbolism and American Literature, ch. 1, University of Chicago Press (1953)