Brett Gosper will quite possibly be the only Australian at Twickenham Stadium on Saturday with a legitimate excuse not to cheer for the Wallabies. 
As chief executive of World Rugby, the governing body formerly known as the International Rugby Board, Gosper decided long ago that nobody wanted to see an "outpouring of emotion" from the person charged with running the sport. His job requires him to be a paragon of objectivity. And this weekend's World Cup final between Australia and New Zealand at the home of English rugby is no different. 
"Of course people understand I come from a country and I have some emotional connection but you don't let that get in the way of managing things in a totally neutral way," he says. "I know how I feel. I just don't think the rest of the world necessarily needs to hear it." 
It has been a long and occasionally controversial World Cup. But with just two games left - don't forget the dreaded third-place play-off featuring Argentina and South Africa on Friday night - Gosper is in good spirits. The tournament has attracted record crowds, bumper television audiences and heavy social media traffic, which was given a boost in the first week by Japan's remarkable last???gasp win against the Springboks. 
TRY! Japan win it at the last - brought to you by @SamsungUK | #SamsungRugbyhttp://t.co/DrQR5a3Tar
??? ITV Rugby (@ITVRugby)      September 19, 2015
Significantly, for those keeping score of the game's finances, Gosper reckons RWC 2015 should also be the "first $US1 billion Rugby World Cup give or take the movement in the currency" when all commercial revenues are taken into account. This should result in a &pound;160 million surplus which will be reinvested back into the game around the world.
"Obviously this is the financial engine that drives the sport," says Gosper. "Around 85 per cent of our revenue comes from the World Cup".
The big numbers are mainly due to the scale of this tournament hosted by England. Kiwis and Aussies may regard themselves as the centre of the rugby world but the game's financial muscle is located in Britain and France. Just over 2.4 million tickets were sold reportedly at an average price of more than &pound;104 per ticket making it the most expensive major sporting event ever staged. Twickenham, in particular, is able to charge banks and other corporate customers huge sums for hospitality packages. Little wonder New Zealand Rugby chief Steve Tew described the 82,000-capacity stadium as a "money press". 
&pound;104.17: average rugby World Cup ticket price = most expensive major sports tournament ever. http://t.co/hflGiUGnG1pic.twitter.com/YZmZYGHEat
??? sportingintelligence (@sportingintel)      September 13, 2015
A former advertising executive, Gosper notes the UK free-to-air broadcaster ITV as well as France's TF1 and Canal account for the bulk of the media rights revenue. Sponsorship dollars are also higher given the tournament is being played in a European time zone. 
Holding the tournament in London and other British cities means it has been largely free of many of the logistical problems that often plague major sporting events such as the football World Cup and the Olympics. No major construction projects were required, transport systems coped with the big crowds at the grounds and fan zones, and security has not been a problem. With Japan hosting the 2019 World Cup and four other countries - France, Ireland, Italy and South Africa - competing for for the 2023 edition, Gosper says it makes sense to hold the event in places with established facilities. 
"We want to make sure that the experience for fans is a simple one and an easy one and therefor there is a certain infrastructure level that we expect from bidding countries," he says. "The support from government is probably more critical than it's ever been before." 
According to World Rugby, the gap between the minnows and established nations is narrowing with the winning margin closing to 30 points compared with 36 points for the previous 2011 World Cup in New Zealand.  However, not all has gone to plan. England became the first host nation in history to exit the World Cup without making the knockout stages, while no European nation will be represented in the semi-finals for the first time in eight tournaments. 
England crash out of their own World Cup after Australia complete a 33-13 victory at Twickenham #ENGvAUSpic.twitter.com/UPYxzk2DYq
??? BreatheSport (@BreatheSport)      October 3, 2015
Gosper, who left Australia at aged 22 to play rugby for Racing Club de France in Paris, rejects the notion that a gulf has opened up between the game's north and south, pointing out Wales and Scotland suffered narrow defeats in their quarter-final matches. 
"Look, it's a fact there are four southern hemisphere teams in the last four," he says. "But at the end of the day, two northern hemisphere sides came very close to moving into that area. I think we could have had some different outcomes in some of those quarters. I'm not sure there is the gap that some might see from that outcome."
Of course, the result of the Scotland game was marred by a refereeing error by South Africa's Craig Joubert, who incorrectly gave a late penalty to the Wallabies that turned the match. Gosper describes the mistake as "pity on a lot of levels" but argues "throughout this tournament [refereeing] standards have been very high and very strong". Some pundits believe the powers of the television match official - who can be called upon to adjudicate on action that leads to a try or instances of foul play - should be expanded to scrutinse penalty decisions. But Gosper says this risks slowing the game down to point of frustrating fans. 
There will no time to rest once Prince Harry presents the Webb Ellis Cup to the winners on Saturday. Rugby sevens feature in next year's Olympics in Rio de Janeiro for the first time. Brazil represents an unprecedented opportunity for rugby. Not only are many schools and universities around the world required to offer Olympic sports to their students but it will expose the abbreviated from of the game to a massive television audience. 
"Olympics is massively important for us," says Gosper, who is the son of former International Olympic Committee official Kevan. "As soon as the final whistle has blown on this World Cup we will be setting our sights on succeeding in Rio."