First the rugby.
The All Blacks can emulate the team of 1987 and win the Webb Ellis Cup at Eden Park tomorrow night.
To the players I'd say this: You have an opportunity to achieve something that comes along once, perhaps twice, in a rugby lifetime. But there's a job to be done before the champagne glass is lifted.
There is not a lot more you can do now.
All the preparation has been completed in the days and weeks building up to tomorrow night.
This is a very good team, strong and smooth in all positions. There are no weaknesses. Many of the finest players in the world are in this team.
It's important to realise that if you play as well as you're capable, you won't be beaten. You have your individual capability, but then the collective, the sum of all of your parts. You must reach inside yourselves to draw out the optimum level of your ability.
It's important to start strongly, and smoothly.
We all saw Australia kick off in the semifinal directly into touch, and spend the next 15 minutes on defence. Australia never recovered.
Some years ago, I went to the Auckland Town Hall to watch a Russian pianist. He was playing Rachmaninov, which can be fiercely difficult.
He looked about 18. He peered at the keyboard for quite some time before starting.
I couldn't figure that out, and asked my brother - who was a fine pianist - what he was doing.
He said he would be thinking only of the first half dozen bars. Get that right, get the rhythm working, and after that it flows.
So it is tomorrow night. Try to play at one end of the field as much as possible, but especially early on.
Penalties tend to come earlier than later in games as the referees get control of proceedings.
When the whistle blows, it's far better to be located in an area on the park where penalties are kickable.
As far as possible try to eliminate mistakes, missed tackles, penalties, turnovers.
At some time in the game you will be under pressure, tired, defending your line, desperate to hang on.
Whatever you do, keep the brain working. It's a large part of the performance, as in life itself.
And a final thing: Remember, if you play well, you won't get beaten.
To my mind an All Black victory would ice the World Cup tournament cake perfectly; the host nation celebrating its achievement in organising a wonderful event in the best possible fashion.
My main happiness in all this is how well the tournament has gone. It has been fantastic for the country, and difficult to fault.
Remember also, this has come at a time when the country has been through an awful period.
Pike River, the Canterbury earthquakes, unseasonably heavy rain and floods, early snow, the Rena cargo ship haemorrhaging oil along our picturesque Bay of Plenty coastline.
While it has been a memorable cup, New Zealand should also be ready for the wrong result tomorrow night. France is also a proud nation.
Win or lose, we will be humble and gracious, no matter what happens.
If things don't go as well as we would hope tomorrow night, remember the team has done wonderfully well.
One of the glories of sport is that there is always a winner and a loser. No one has a monopoly on winning in sport. Fortunately, winning is never forever - but neither is defeat.
Whatever happens, we should applaud the All Blacks, and all those throughout the nation who have helped to make this tournament such a joy.
Sir Wilson Whineray, a durable prop, played 32 tests for the All Blacks, all but two as captain.
