Rugby World Cup Final: It ain't the "dream final" maybe, but in this curious, absorbing, at times wonderful, uniquely unpredictable and even bizarre 2007 Coupe du Monde, it's somehow appropriate. South Africa versus England.
A meticulously prepared, better-rounded team against one stumbled upon in adversity. Overwhelming favourites against unconsidered underdogs. It, eh, should be straightforward?
At face value, the final looks like so many other match-ups in the knockout stages, and will fall along one of two lines.
If the Springboks score the first try early on, as they did in their 36-0 win over England in this very stadium five weeks ago and in last week's semi-final against Argentina, they should go on to win, perhaps even quite comfortably.
Admittedly, first in is not always best dressed; that is, in the last three RWC finals, the team that has scored the first points has not gone on to lift the trophy.
That said, in all previous finals, the team that led at half-time went on to pick up the Webb Ellis Cup. And besides, if this World Cup has taught us anything, it is that history has taught us little.
The feeling is based more on the available evidence of the teams' strengths and weaknesses. As those aforementioned games underline, the Springboks are simply the best front-runners in the tournament.
Ahead early, they can soak up pressure from their own half and strike through their blitz defence and the ensuing turnovers and intercepts, or simply break out from deep off turnovers.
It helps when you have Bryan Habana, the world's best finisher.
Or, as they also showed against England and Argentina, they can just simply pile on the three-pointers from Percy Montgomery - who has missed only one penalty out of 14 - from anywhere within 50 metres.
True, Fiji came back at them well with their variety of strike runners, lines of running and willingness to offload in the tackle.
But this is England, not Fiji, and as that pool game also showed, they don't play catch-up particularly well.
Against all of that, however, if it's a one-score game inside the last quarter, England would almost become favourites. Their old guard would play it smart, invariably eke out a three-point opportunity or two for Jonny Wilkinson and - though his success rate (60.7 per cent) pales by comparison to Montgomery's (79.5 per cent) - under pressure he delivers.
Cue Lawrence Dallaglio to give a master class in how to close a game down.
That's how they've done it against Australia and France: absorb, absorb and absorb like a sponge, then strike stealthily.
"The thing is they've got themselves into these situations and in the World Cup they've played them pretty well," admits the Springboks' captain, John Smit.
"They've waited for other teams to make a mistake or give away a penalty, and then it's almost a fait accompli when that man (Wilkinson) stands up."
England's old warriors know where the winning line is, and undoubtedly their experience of winning four years ago helps. Five of this 22 started the 2003 final in Sydney - Phil Vickery, Jason Robinson, Wilkinson, Ben Kay and Dallaglio - while Martin Corry, Lewis Moody and Mike Catt were on the bench.
England have amazed themselves as well as their critics and fans by getting this far.
There is more pressure on South Africa to win, as there was on Australia and France when they played England, and on the All Blacks when they played France. And look what happened the favourites then.
England have been playing rope-a-dope rugby but, that said, Australia and France especially were indeed a bit dopey. Having gone in front, they became too conservative for their own good.
They seemed more afraid of losing than hungry to actually push on and win. In a final, the Springboks ought not to fall into that trap.
They have been making all the right noises. Their squad oozes self-assurance and confidence - about what they are and what they intend doing - as distinct from arrogance.
History may suggest finals are often tight, nervy affairs, given two of the last three went to extra time and there's been only a score between the sides in three of the five overall.
"There are a lot of historical things that haven't really happened at this tournament and hopefully that's one of them," says Smit, echoing the Jake White line.
"We want to play our best rugby in four years in the final and that's an extremely high goal to set and it is a huge amount of pressure. Everyone says a World Cup final is a tight clash so we've got to try our best to make sure we can play our best.
"Jake's been talking about his 'round of 59' for four years and we haven't quite hit it yet, so hopefully it's at the weekend."
In their six games to date, South Africa have never scored fewer than 30 points and have, overall, outscored England by 263 points to 134 and 33 tries to 12.
Jason Robinson, facing into the last competitive game of his career - having been hamstrung in the pool game, when it looked for all the world as if his career might be ending then and there - still provides a spark for England with his ability to stand opponents up and delay his devilish sidestep to the last split second, sliding through gaps that don't seem to exist.
"If I said no I'd be lying; this week is one of mixed emotions," he said. "Part of this week is about controlling your emotions. The more you think about things like that the less time you have to focus on what you have to do.
"Winning a World Cup is the best feeling that you can have in rugby but losing one, and I lost a rugby league World Cup in 1995, can be the worst thing in your career."
But the tries, even the chances, have dried up for Paul Sackey, whereas aside from Habana and du Preez, the Boks have a raft of potential match-winners, Jaque Fourie, Francois Steyn, Danie Rossouw and the prolific Juan Smith.
That England-Australia quarter-final was also a rare example at this level of the scrum having a huge influence on the result.
The lineout is much more likely to influence the outcome - and White for one understandably believes it will - and here the peerless and enormous Springbok lineout, with Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha ruling the air, has taken 29 per cent of opposition throws.
"And what about counter-attacking, pace and goalkicking? There are other things as well," added White, clearly believing his Boks are also superior in those departments - and thus far they have been.
"It's not a case of just stopping their scrum. We know that's an area they're going to target and maybe it's a blessing in disguise that we didn't scrum well against Argentina, because now we've got to focus on making sure our scrum is a little bit more switched on."
On what is forecast to be another clear, dry night in Paris, the bottom line too is that the Boks are the better team and also have a better array of match winners. History may be hokum lately, but sometimes it does tend to repeat itself.
Final statistics
Touch judges: Joël Jutge (France), Paul Honiss (New Zealand) Television match official: Stuart Dickinson (Australia)
Head to head: Played 29, South Africa 16 wins, England 12 wins, 1 draw
Last five meetings: 2007 - South Africa 36 England 0 (WC, Stade de France); South Africa 55 England 22 (Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria); South Africa 58 England 10 (Vodacom Park, Bloemfontein); 2006 - England 14 South Africa 25 (Twickenham); 2006: England 23 South Africa 21 (Twickenham).
Route to final: South Africa- 59-7 v Samoa; 36-0 v England; 30-25 v Tonga; 64-15 v USA; 37-20 v Fiji; 37-13 v Argentina. England- 28-10 v USA; 0-36 v South Africa; 44-22 v Samoa; 36-20 v Tonga; 12-10 v Australia; 14-9 v France.
Leading try scorers: South Africa- Bryan Habana 8. England- Paul Sackey 4.
Leading points scorer: South Africa - Percy Montgomery 93. England - Jonny Wilkinson 61.
Betting(Paddy Power): (80 mins) 4/11 South Africa, 22/1 Draw, 23/10 England. (To lift trophy) 1/3 South Africa, 9/4 England. Handicap odds (England +9pts) 10/11 South Africa, 20/1 Draw, 10/11 England.
