All Blacks on top of the world again after Carter signs off with another masterclass

New Zealand are world champions for the third time, becoming the first side to retain the trophy. It was the result that most would have predicted before the tournament, but it is never that simple, and so it proved in this pulsating final, probably the best of all the eight finals so far, as a wonderfully brave Australia somehow crawled back into the game having been 21-3 down early in the second half.