It will be the battle of grand master and willing aspirant when New Zealand meet Australia for the first time ever in a World Cup final on Sunday.
While his players did everything they could to avoid talking about the All Blacks, Wallabies coach Michael Cheika wasted no time framing the glorified Bledisloe Cup Test as a David and Goliath battle in his post-match appearance.
In one corner, the All Blacks, a well-oiled machine. In the other, the Wallabies, spirited but hastily constructed. His band of Aussie battlers would need to do "something special, something extra" to topple the world champions, Cheika said. 
"They're obviously the world's No. 1 and they're there for a reason," he said. "We've only beaten them once and they've had the last 10, so I think they'll be feeling like they've got our measure. It's going to be up to us to do something special, something extra, to just be competitive. And then we'll see what happens from there."
He is not wrong about the something extra, but you can bet the message between the team room walls will be lighter on the fatalism this week.
Cheika's Wallabies were the first to beat New Zealand in four years and 11 Tests. He will be mining that experience to unlock said "something" in the days ahead.
"I think we believe in our game and the way we want to play the game," captain Stephen Moore said. "What opposition we play week to week varies, but we certainly have belief in the way we want to play and I think we need to continue to believe in that this week. It's a World Cup final so you would expect it to be a step up from anything we have ever played before and that's what we planned for and we know we're playing a very good team."
That's about as far as anyone was prepared to go into All Blacks territory on Sunday night. Winger Drew Mitchell did his best to play down the occasion as he contemplated the week ahead.
"It's about recovery, your focus has got to be that you're no different a player than you were last week, and at the end of the day it's a Test match against New Zealand and it's an opportunity, so that's how we're going to look at it," Mitchell said.
The Wallabies will marshal the medicos early in the week. Matt Giteau picked up a groin niggle in the win over the Pumas, Scott Sio's elbow will be endlessly scrutinised and the Israel Folau "ankle watch" will start afresh.
David Pocock was again the man who made the difference on many occasions. In a stinging critique of the Wallabies and their "street fighter" coach in The New Zealand Herald on Monday, Chris Rattue called Pocock "the best ruck turnover merchant rugby has seen".
All Blacks coach Steve Hansen will have a few thoughts to contribute on the nature of the battle ahead. But it was Cheika in first, keeping a lid on the hype but paying credit where it was due.
"They're a very well-drilled side, they have an excellent coach and [are] very well organised, so they know what they're doing all the time on the field, from every situation, whether it's kicking or running," he said.
"You have to be working hard all the time and you have to believe in your own way of playing. We know we're going to have to improve again. We'll be doing our best to do that. A lot of our fans and people in Australia are really enjoying the tournament and enjoying getting involved in our team again. We want to make them proud in every match we play and now the next match is this one so we want to make them especially proud." More rugby-Page 42