Summary

Australia				Round	England
Opponent	Result			Group stage	Opponent	Result
England	18–4			Matchday 1	Australia	4–18
France	52–6			Matchday 2	Lebanon	29–10
Lebanon	34–0			Matchday 3	France	36–6
Group stage winners Pos Team Pld Pts 1  Australia (H) 3 6 2  England 3 4 3  Lebanon 3 2 4  France 3 0 Source: (H) Hosts				Final standings	Group stage runners-up Pos Team Pld Pts 1  Australia (H) 3 6 2  England 3 4 3  Lebanon 3 2 4  France 3 0 Source: (H) Hosts
Opponent	Result			Knockout stage	Opponent	Result
Samoa	46–0			Quarter-finals	Papua New Guinea	36–6
Fiji	54–6			Semi-finals	Tonga	20–18

Australia

Valentine Holmes scored a record twelve tries in Australia's progress to the final.

Australia's road to the final began on October 27 at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium in Melbourne, where they played England. After conceding the first try Australia didn't concede for the rest of the match and went on the win 18–4.^[8]

Australia's next game was in Canberra against France. Australia jumped out to an early 12–0 lead through a Wade Graham double before French fullback Mark Kheirallah fielded an Australian kick and ran 80 meters to score under the posts and make it 12–6. Wade Graham went on to score 4 tries as Australia ran out 52–6 winners.^[9]

The Kangaroos' final group match was in Sydney against Lebanon. Australia put on a very controlled and professional performance to win comfortably, 34–0.^[10]

Australia would face the win-less Samoa in the first test match in Darwin to open the quarter-finals. Australian winger Valentine Holmes became the first ever player to score 5 tries in a World Cup match as Australia won 46–0.^[11]

Australia then moved on to Brisbane to play an undefeated Fiji in the first semi-final. Australian winger Valentine Holmes this time scored 6 tries and broke his own record for the most tries in a World Cup match, and also took his tournament tally to 12 thus becoming the highest tally in a single World Cup. Australia went on to beat Fiji 54–6 and qualified for their 12th World Cup final.^[12]

England

Jermaine McGillvary ran a tournament high 1251 metres in the lead up to the final.

England began their World Cup campaign against Australia on October 27 at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium in Melbourne. England opened the scoring with winger Jermaine McGillvary crossing in the 5th minute, taking an early 4–0 lead. England then conceded two tries to trail 4–10 at half time. The second half was very evenly matched with both teams having chances to score, until a Cameron Smith penalty goal in the 76th minute extended Australia's lead over a converted try, and conceding a 79th minute intercept try to Josh Dugan sealed an England's first defeat of the tournament, going down 4–18.^[8]

England's second match of the tournament came against Lebanon in Sydney. A first half blitz saw England take a 22–6 half time lead, with tries to Kallum Watkins, Jermaine McGillvary, Ryan Hall and Ben Currie. A more conservative second half saw England only score and conceded one try, and seal a 29–10 victory with a last minute field goal by Gareth Widdop.^[13] Much controversy surrounded an incident in the second half where Lebanon captain Robbie Farah accused England's Jermaine McGillvary of biting during a tackle. McGillvary was not suspended due to no evidence that he bit Farah.^[14]

England's final group match came against France in Perth. England got off to a fast start, scoring 3 tries in the first nine minutes, taking a 26–6 half time lead. Much alike their previous group match against Lebanon, England took their foot off the pedal in the second half, only scoring two more tries, going out victorious 36–6 and booking their place in the knockout stage.^[15]

England faced the winners of Group C, Papua New Guinea in their quarter final clash in Melbourne. Much a-like their group stage matches, England were the first team to score, taking a 14–0 lead into half time. A Ben Currie try in the 56th minute almost certainly booked England a semi final berth until Garry Lo got PNG's first try and set up an exciting last 20 minutes, until 3 tries in the last 12 minutes saw England run out 36–6 victors.^[16]

England then face a passionate Tongan team in the semi-finals in Auckland. England opened the scoring through a try to winger Jermaine McGillvary, scoring his seventh of the tournament. Five minutes later Gareth Widdop took the lead out to 12–0, a lead which England took into half time. A 50th-minute penalty goal took England out past a 2 converted try lead and a 68th minute try to John Bateman all but looked to seal England's first World Cup final berth since 1995, but three tries in 4 minutes to Tonga closed England's lead to two points with 3 minutes left. The ending of the match was very controversial, with Tonga's Andrew Fafita crossing the line in the dying seconds for referee Matt Cecchin to rule a knock-on against the Tongans. Replays showed that the knock-on may have been a result due to a strip from England, but Cecchin failed to review the possible try and thus awarding England a 20–18 semi final win, and advancing to the final to face Australia, who they faced in their opening group match.^[17]

Officiating

Gerard Sutton was named to officiate the match with Chris Kendall from the Rugby Football League and Chris Butler to be the touch judges. Ben Thaler was the video referee, and Matt Cecchin and Robert Hicks were the standy-by referee and touch judges respectively.^[18]

Team selection

Sean O'Loughlin was originally selected to play for England but withdrew due to a quad injury. He was replaced by Sam Burgess whilst Ben Currie filled Burgess's spot in the second row, and Jonny Lomax filled Currie's spot on the bench.^[19]

Australia was unchanged for the final from their semi-final victory over Fiji.^[20]

Women's final

The match was played as a double-header with the women's final between Australia and New Zealand. Australia won 23–16, retaining their 2013 title and their second overall.^[21]

Entertainment

Injured Australian five-eighth Johnathan Thurston and English rugby league icon Kevin Sinfield presented the teams onto the field. Amber Dawn-Finch sang God Save the Queen for the English, and tenor Scott Muller sang Advance Australia Fair for the Australians.

First half

Boyd Cordner scored the first try in the 15th minute for Australia, and Cameron Smith converted.

After the first 40 minutes, Australia went into half-time with a 6–0 lead.

Second half

In the 47th minute, Michael Morgan appeared to have scored a try, but was ruled no try when referred to the video referee due to ruled interference, resulting in a penalty to England.

In the 65th minute, English centre Kallum Watkins broke the Australian line causing an 2-on-1 overlap with Elliott Whitehead unmarked, but was ankle-tapped by Australia's Josh Dugan which ended up being a match-winning moment for the Kangaroos.^[22]

The second half ended up being a scorless affair for both sides; after 80 minutes Australia retaining the World Cup with a 6–0 victory.

Details

2 December 2017 19:00 AEST (UTC+10:00)

Australia	6–0	England
Tries: Cordner 15' Goals: Smith (1/1) 16'	Report

Brisbane Stadium, Brisbane Attendance: 40,033 Referee: Gerard Sutton (Australia) Touch judges: Chris Kendall (England), Chris Butler (Australia) Player of the Match: Boyd Cordner (Australia)

FB 1 Billy Slater WG 2 Dane Gagai CE 3 Will Chambers CE 4 Josh Dugan WG 5 Valentine Holmes FE 6 Michael Morgan HB 7 Cooper Cronk PR 8 Aaron Woods HK 9 Cameron Smith (c) PR 10 David Klemmer SR 11 Boyd Cordner SR 12 Matt Gillett LK 13 Josh McGuire Substitutes: IN 14 Wade Graham IN 15 Jordan McLean IN 16 Reagan Campbell-Gillard IN 17 Tyson Frizell Coach: Mal Meninga

FB 1 Gareth Widdop WG 2 Jermaine McGillvary CE 3 Kallum Watkins CE 4 John Bateman WG 5 Ryan Hall SO 6 Kevin Brown SH 7 Luke Gale PR 8 Chris Hill HK 9 James Roby PR 10 James Graham SR 11 Ben Currie SR 12 Elliott Whitehead LK 16 Sam Burgess (c) Substitutes: IN 14 Alex Walmsley IN 15 Thomas Burgess IN 17 Chris Heighington IN 18 Jonny Lomax Coach: Wayne Bennett

Notes:

• Australia became the first team to win the Rugby League World Cup title eleven times.
• This was the first time a team won the World Cup on home soil since 1977.
• The aggregate 6 points scored was the least in a Rugby League World Cup final.
• This match saw a new equal record low for tries in a Rugby League World Cup final with only one try scored.

Statistics