Internationals / Joe Dyer / 22 November 2008 / Leave a comment

Punters pile into the Australians on Betfair but it's their less illustrious opponents who lift the trophy.

Australia were beaten by New Zealand in the rugby league World Cup Final in what will go down as one of the greatest shocks in the sport's history.

After opening up a two try lead, Betfair customers were prepared to back Australia at [1.01] on the exchange, with £17,243 matched at that price.

But New Zealand did not roll over and die, fighting back with two tries of their own before heading into the break 16-12 down.

And the second half was dominated by the underdogs - themselves matched at [34.0] on the exchange - who piled on the points almost without reply from the Australians.

More than £1.3m was traded on Australia at prices of [1.25] and down.

A New Zealand win by more than 12.5 points was backed at [55.0] while the Australia/New Zealand HT/FT result was backed at [44..0].