SYDNEY - Boring or not, everything points to the final being decided by superboots Jonny Wilkinson and Elton Flatley.
Two of the last four clashes between England and Australia have been decided by three points or fewer, with Wilkinson's marksmanship proving the difference in three of those games.
Only in this year's
England 25-14 victory in Melbourne was the outcome decided by tries, with the Red Rose putting three past an out-classed Australian side.
Last year Australia lost 32-31 to England, despite scoring more tries, with Wilkinson's kicking the difference.
However, the Wallabies' World Cup sharpshooter Flatley did not kick, although he did score two tries, in that loss at Twickenham.
And Flatley has been more successful off the kicking tee than Wilkinson at the World Cup.
Wilkinson has kicked 29 from 36 for an 80.5 per cent success rate, while Flatley has nailed 33 from 40, for an 82.5 per cent return.
The big difference - and it could prove crucial - is Wilkinson's added talent for banging over dropped goals with either foot.
He has already notched up seven dropped goals - the most in any World Cup - from 10 attempts to keep the English score ticking over in tight games.
In contrast, Wallabies five-eighth Steve Larkham has not scored a dropped goal since his famous long-range effort against South Africa to clinch the 1999 semifinal.
Halfback George Gregan is the only Australian to have nailed a drop goal at this tournament, with one from two attempts.
England have come under fire in Australia for not scoring enough tries, putting only one, and that from a charge-down, past the South Africans and failing to cross the French tryline.
Wilkinson was responsible for all England's points in the 24-7 win over France in the semifinal.
But the Wallabies have struggled for tries in the tough games, too.
They scored one against the All Blacks, from an intercept in their own 22, and it was Flatley's five penalties that proved the difference.
Similarly, in the Wallabies' hardest pool game, against Ireland, they only managed one try and it was their success with the boot that got them home 17-16 against an Irish team that missed two drop goals and three penalties.
Despite Wilkinson's reputation for a cool head, he has missed some relatively easy kicks in the close games and Flatley has appeared to better absorb the pressure.
With both sides struggling to put tries past the stronger defences it seems Wilkinson and Flatley will be the men to decide which team takes home the Webb Ellis Cup.
And will Wilkinson's drop-goal skill prove the difference?
In 1995, South Africa were victorious thanks to Joel Stransky's extra-time dropped goal, defeating New Zealand 15-12.
* Rugby can make it to the Olympics, but only if another sport drops out of the Games programme, IOC president Jacques Rogge said yesterday.
Rogge, a former flanker in Belgium, said a seven-a-side version of the game was on the official "waiting list" along with golf.
"But if no sport leaves, no sport gets in," Rogge said.
In Australia for the final, he took a swipe at the 15-man game, saying it could not be in the Olympics because not enough countries were competitive.
- REUTERS
Full World Cup coverage
SYDNEY - Boring or not, everything points to the final being decided by superboots Jonny Wilkinson and Elton Flatley.
Two of the last four clashes between England and Australia have been decided by three points or fewer, with Wilkinson's marksmanship proving the difference in three of those games.
Only in this year's
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