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Australia 35 France 12
Australia won the World Cup for a second time with a convincing display of pressure rugby to beat France 35-12 at the Millennium Stadium.
John Eales' Wallabies emulated Australia's world champion cricket and
netball teams in 1999, comfortably finishing on top through tries from
wing Ben Tune and replacement forward Owen Finegan, while full-back Matt
Burke kicked 25 points from seven penalties and two conversions.
France, who were never able to reattain the heights of their semi-final victory over New Zealand last weekend, managed four penalties from fly-half Christophe Lamaison in reply, and were a well beaten team on the day.
Australia's victory means that the southern hemisphere retains its
grip on rugby union's biggest prize, following their previous triumph eight
years ago and the victories of New Zealand (1987) and South Africa (1995).
France were in contention, trailing just 18-12 20 minutes from time, but Australia produced a storming finish to score 17 unanswered points.
Scrum-half George Gregan spun out of a tackle to set up the first for
powerful Tune, and it was the half-back involved again six minutes into
injury time, this time sending Finegan on a rampaging run to the line.
Burke kicked nine goals from 11 attempts, passing 500 Test match points
in the process but finishing one point short of Argentina's Gonzalo Quesada
as the tournament's top points scorer.