Oceania Cup- finals time today

In a soap opera of events in the Oceania regional rugby, the final of the Oceania Cup will be fought between hosts New Caledonia and last years bridesmaids Nuie. The road to the final has been a torrid and unpredictable one, but as we all know in sport it is not how you get there, but the fact that you are there and now it's finals time.

The local boys have been on a high since beating Vanuatu and securing the all important home final. This edge means they don't have to fly all over the Pacific to reach the final & can soak up homeliness as well as some of the best IRB coaches at their training's. For the past 6 weeks they have been rumbling as a unit and everything leads towards this grand final. This time together has tightened up the big forwards and allowed familiar intuitive passing in the backs. In New Caledonia to lend a hand has been IRB coaching mentor Lee Smith, sitting back and adding in some insight his style and theories keep it simple and well drilled for this team. As Lee said at practice " If you have a guy in your pack that is 2.15 meters tall you don't need to confuse the line-out with all this fancy running about first, just get the big fella up there and secure the ball." This straight up approach blended with the good old flair of French style rugby will see a dangerous team ready for the test match.

Niue is the other team in the final, they have been on a lot of planes to be here and last weekend they spoiled the Cook Islands home party by downing them in the semi final. They have proven that home status means nothing to them and will again be looking to topple another team on the road, this drive will be even deeper with the fact that last year they finished up second best to PNG in the 07 final. The core of their team performed extremely well in the Oceania 7s earlier this year, they are also big boys and will match New Caledonia in this department and this will see some vigor and huge hits come kick-off.