By every means of comparison bar one, New Zealand should beat France in tomorow’s World Cup final to end the 24-year wait of a rugby-mad nation for its second world title.

The All Blacks have been the outstanding team of the tournament, winning their pool matches by margins of between 20 and 76 points, scoring 240 points and conceding 49 in four games, then beating Argentina and Australia in knockout matches with barely a flicker of anxiety on the field.

France lost twice in pool matches, to New Zealand and in almost humiliating fashion to Tonga, then compounded their poor form with a self-destructive display of internal discord.

The All Blacks sustained a key injury during pool play — the loss of star flyhalf Dan Carter — that was thought capable of derailing their campaign, but took it in their stride.

As reigning world champions South Africa and 2003 champions England fell in the quarter-finals along with Ireland, who had beaten Australia in pool play, New Zealand steered an unbroken course to the final. In the nature of All Blacks rugby it drew on almost prodigious depth of talent: elevating 22-year-old flyhalf Aaron Cruden and scrumhalf Piri Weepu from subordinate to indispensable roles without any disruption to its pattern.

New Zealand met their archrivals Australia in the semi-finals and, for a moment, this nation of 4.5 million quavered; feared that in a match between the No. 1- and No. 2-ranked teams in world rugby their long quest for World Cup glory might unravel.

Instead, New Zealand played majestically, physically imposing themselves on the match, shutting down Australia’s key playmakers to win 20-6 and to become, even more than it had been previously, an overwhelming favorite to win the final.

Every aspect of the teams’ respective passages to tomorrow’s championship match seemed to lead to one conclusion: that New Zealand will beat France to claim the World Cup for the first time since 1987. An Irish gambling house, so confident of the outcome, reportedly paid out on a New Zealand win before the match was played.

New Zealanders would be equally sanguine if it was not for one issue that confounds comparisons between the teams: the unpredictable French. France has twice beaten New Zealand in World Cup knockout matches, most recently in 2007 when they eliminated the All Blacks in the quarterfinals.

That defeat shocked New Zealanders, implanting in the national psyche a fear that a second World Cup victory might always elude the All Blacks. Coaches Graham Henry, Wayne Smith and Steve Hansen retained their jobs in the face of stiff public opposition and now have the chance four years later to make their peace with fans by delivering the World Cup.

“It’s a very exciting situation that we’re in, a final against France, our arch-nemesis at World Cup time,” Carter said. “We all know about the past that we’ve had with the French.”They’re such a dangerous side, especially when their backs are against the wall and they have a lot of doubters. That’s when they step up and they’ve shown that in 2007 and also in 1999. We have to expect the unexpected.

“At World Cups, teams come out and have heroic performances ... like 2007 and the way the French played. It’s going to be a huge challenge.”