World Cup 2015 Final, Australia v/s New Zealand: Trans-Tasman sporting rivalry spanned out across the years

The trans-Tasman rivalry between New Zealand and Australia is most clearly displayed in the sporting arena, though there are other reasons why the neighbours have a fierce competitive relationship.

Here is a short chronicle of both nations' rivalry in the sporting arena.

RUGBY - New Zealand regularly treated Australia as second-tier opponents until 1979 when the Wallabies won the Bledisloe Cup and took the trophy on a lap of honour around the Sydney Cricket Ground, an act that stung the All Blacks.

Australians still harbour ill-feelings over Colin Meads inflicting a career-ending leg injury on scrumhalf Ken Catchpole in 1968. The Wallabies have also beaten New Zealand twice in World Cup semi-finals, though the All Blacks' recent domination - they have won 19 of the past 24 tests with two draws - has diminished the rivalry a little.

CRICKET - Australia had little to do with New Zealand after thrashing them in their first test in 1946, not playing the longest form of the game again until 1973. Competitive one-day matches in the early-1980s reignited the rivalry, at least in New Zealand, as the side showed they could compete.

The underarm incident' in 1981, Greg Dyer's claiming of a non-catch in 1987 and Brad Haddin knocking the bails off in 2009 have infuriated New Zealand fans, who view the incidents as examples of Australia's win-at-all-cost mentality.

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YACHTING - While not technically a rivalry between the two countries, Australian skipper Jimmy Spithill's goading of Team New Zealand at the last America's Cup in 2013 briefly made him public enemy number one. Spithill then turned Team Oracle USA's performances around and roared back from an seemingly unwinnable position to retain sport's oldest trophy.

PHAR LAP - Foaled just out of Timaru in New Zealand's South Island, the gelding became the most famous racehorse in the world in the late 1920s and whose name is still muttered with reverence across both sides of the Tasman Sea. The horse, however, was trained and raced in Australia, which many point to as the sole defining fact in determining where he was from.

MUSIC - Debate has raged for decades over the band Crowded House. Consisting of former members of New Zealand band Split Enz in Neil Finn and Paul Hester, the band spent the majority of their career based in Melbourne. Hester and Nick Seymour are both Australian though the creative force Finn was from Te Awamutu. New Zealand's recent Grammy winner Lorde has also been claimed as "Australasian" by Australian media.

BAKING - Named after Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, the meringue-based dish is a staple dessert at Christmas in both countries. New Zealand claims it was invented by a Wellington chef to serve the world-famous dancer when she visited in 1926. Australians argue the recipe appeared in local magazines earlier than that. The only thing the two agree on is that it is delicious.

FILM - Oscar winner Russell Crowe is New Zealand-born but Australia-raised and identifies with the Sunburned Country. Crowe recently said he had been turned down twice for Australian citizenship, something denied by Australian officials. Many New Zealanders feel Australia is welcome to him.

The list is endless indeed!