New Zealand versus Australia is the final this Rugby World Cup deserves, the two best teams going head to head under the lights at Twickenham late on Saturday afternoon while the noise of the haka and 'Waltzing, Matilda' floats on the wind. The ghosts of yesteryear surrounding Twickenham on Halloween will be in their element.

The Halloween weekend does not favour the All Blacks. In 1963, on October 30, New Zealand arrived at Newport on a horrible day and fell 3-0 to a solitary John Uzzell drop-goal. In 1972, it was Llanelli's turn to beat New Zealand 9-3. Then six years on Munster prevailed 12-0.

Then in 1999, on All Hallows' Eve itself, they were met by an inspired France side who dispatched them from the Rugby World Cup at the semi-final stage with Christoph Lamaison imperious. And then come the cross-Tasman Tests on that last weekend in October. In 2009 New Zealand won 32-19 in Tokyo; a year later they lost to the Wallabies 26-24.

But this has been a World Cup where the All Blacks have exorcised the ghosts of Cardiff and they will hope to continue in that vein this weekend.

New Zealand will be hoping Saturday does not turn into 'fright night' and past results mean little in the mind of Australia coach Michael Cheika. "They say if you look backwards you are only going to get a sore neck," he said on Friday. "It really means nothing.

"What's important is what happens in the next couple of days and the 80 minutes ahead of us. You see where you are and then see how the cards fall."

Regardless of him not taking too much from their previous meetings, this Antipodean Rugby World Cup final is set against the backdrop of a turbulent history.

From George Gregan's infamous goading of New Zealand in their semi-final win in 2003 -- "four more years boys, four years", he said tapping Byron Kelleher on the shoulder -- to the All Blacks' domination of the Bledisloe Cup, winning each of the last 12, the two teams know each other better than anyone.

It is almost a rugby oddity that these two teams have never met each other in the final and looking beyond Saturday's game, it will be bizarre to see an All Blacks team next year bereft of their sensational six: Keven Mealamu, Tony Woodcock, Richie McCaw, Dan Carter, Conrad Smith and Ma'a Nonu. Finishing on a winning note for that group is likely to be a motive in itself but talk of their impending international retirement has not been on the agenda this week; the All Blacks' message has been one of reiterating focus on Saturday and not beyond.

"I know we've had a really good week," Steve Hansen said. "We're looking forward to tomorrow immensely. I know, win or lose; we'll put in a performance we'll be proud of. If that's good enough to win, great; if not, we'll look at ourselves and ask what we need to do better.

"But we won't be inhibited by the occasion. This group is in a good place and excited about what's coming, and we've got a bit of talent, so if we play well, the result might come our way."

Australia and New Zealand will come at this game from vastly different paths -- one boasting unparalleled success and the other built on a culture formed last October. For New Zealand, they have experienced defeat just three times since they won the 2011 World Cup; Australia's Cheika has been in the job just 12 months and has transformed them from an ill-disciplined rabble into a coherent, ruthless outfit.

"How we got here is probably irrelevant," Hansen said. "The same applies to Australia. They've had a few bumps and adversity. They've done a great job. It's great for rugby."

New Zealand perform the haka in front of Australia before the Bledisloe Cup© Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images

Australia, too, will have players retiring from Test duty after Saturday's game but like New Zealand, platitudes for them will wait. Despite the leaked photograph of some of Australia's key messages ahead of the final, there will be little clandestine about Saturday's game. Both sides will want dominance in the breakdown through their limpet fetchers, while also playing the corners and looking for set-piece superiority. Israel Folau will be peppered with high balls, as will Nehe Milner-Skudder. It will be attritional rugby, but breathless in the extreme.

History will be made on Saturday evening, one way or another. If the All Blacks win, they will boast the honour of being the first team to win back-to-back titles while both teams currently sit on two World Cup triumphs, alongside South Africa -- a third and they will sit atop of the pile in splendid isolation.

When Carter was six, he used to knock balls over the wooden goal-posts his father built in his back garden in Southbridge. Some of them were, in his mind, the World Cup-clinching kicks. Saturday night will give him and the rest of his All Blacks team-mates a chance to make those idle childhood daydreams a reality.

But the Wallabies are not there to make up the numbers -- far from it. They have improved immeasurably since Cheika took over and that canny Australian will no doubt have the odd rabbit to pull out of the hat come Saturday, probably one with a bazooka.