This is it! The decider, which will bring to an end a highly entertaining 2017 Rugby League World Cup campaign and crown a champion in the final between Australia and England.
Newcastle bound Chris Heighington has been recalled into England’s 17 to take on the defending champions after his past two matches saw him watch on from the sidelines.
Australia v England
Date: Saturday, December 2
Kick-off: 8pm (AEDST)
Venue: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
There’s no doubt this highly anticipated match will be an absolute corker as the two best nations in the world battle it out for supremacy.
Australia is boasting an impressive undefeated run at the World Cup, which includes England as their first victory of the tournament.
With a composed run through the finals, thumping Fiji 54-6 in the semis and Samoa 46-0 in the quarters, the Kangaroos are set to field an unchanged 17 while their English opponents have been forced to make a few changes after an unfortunate injury.
Wayne Bennett has decided to go with Chris Heighington as the final man on the bench, with St Helens skipper James Roby thrush into the starting line-up to replace injured hooker Josh Hodgson.
Australia have got the stats behind them to justify their favourites tag, scoring 37 tries so far at the Cup to England’s 23, whilst the English have recorded an unwanted 64 errors, 13 clear of the Aussies.
An absolute scoring machine, the Poms will have to look out for winger Valentine Holmes who has been carving it up out wide.
Holmes became the first Australian to score six tries in a test when they schooled Fiji in a heavy defeat last week which followed on from his five-try haul in the quarter finals against Samoa.
But Gareth Widdop has shaped up to be the shining light for England, who has ranked number one in the tournament for try assists and line breaks, whilst big men James Graham and Elliott Whitehead have proven handy as the Cup’s third highest tacklers.
Whatever the result, it’s set to be a scintillating final to end a great year of rugby league.
Australia: 1. Billy Slater 2. Dane Gagai 3. Will Chambers 4. Josh Dugan 5. Valentine Holmes 6. Michael Morgan 7. Cooper Cronk 8. Aaron Woods 9. Cameron Smith 10. David Klemmer 11. Boyd Cordner 12. Matt Gillett 13. Josh McGuire 14. Wade Graham 15. Jordan McLean 16. Reagan Campbell-Gillard 17. Tyson Frizell 18. Felise Kaufusi 19. Tom Trbojevic 20. Josh Mansour 21. James Maloney
England: 1. Gareth Widdop 2. Jermaine McGillvary 3. Kallum Watkins 4. John Bateman 5. Ryan Hall 6. Kevin Brown 7. Luke Gale 8. Chris Hill 9. James Roby 10. James Graham 11. Sam Burgess 12. Elliott Whitehead 13. Sean O’Loughlin 14. Alex Walmsley 15. Thomas Burgess 16. Ben Currie 17. Chris Heighington 18. Jonny Lomax 19. Scott Taylor 20. George Williams 21. Mark Percival.
