London: Rugby’s greatest team were anointed at the end of the best World Cup. And the chief hero among many was Dan Carter, probably the finest player to have played this sometimes perplexing, often glorious game.

Where else in life can you find symmetry like that? A beautiful calm descended on Twickenham as New Zealand pulled away from Australia once and then again after a brief Wallaby flurry threatened to spoil the retirement parties of a swarm of All Black legends. But Carter was not going to head off to club rugby in France with Aussie demons in his head. He wanted to arrive in Paris in style. A dropped goal and a penalty re-opened the deficit in this Antipodean derby before Beauden Barrett finished it off with a breakaway try.

Carter, 33, has now posted 99 victories in 112 All Black fixtures and this was a hell of a way to go. Four years ago he watched from the sidelines as New Zealand lifted the Webb Elllis Cup in the land where he grew up with mini-goalsposts in his garden. Injury kept Carter out of the 2011 final. Even here his right leg was heavily bandaged. But there could be no stopping the most illustrious player of the professional era.

Carter’s dropped goal was delivered in a tight space with almost no time for measurement. It required talent, composure and boldness. Over it sailed to break Australian resistance and lift Carter closer to the pedestal where he belongs. Stick the label on without fear of challenge. By definition this All Black side are the best to have played the game. That is no subjective bar-room shout. By becoming the first to retain the rugby World Cup - and the first to win it three times - they have buried the myth that their dominance is confined to tournaments on their own misty islands.

The first two All Black triumphs were on New Zealand soil. The third was secured in the English shires after uneven form in the pool phase blossomed into majesty. Their crushing of France in the quarter-finals was a showcase for All Black skills. Their victory over South Africa a week later subdued the brute strength of an unexciting Springbok side. Then came the final test: a derby between neighbours that looked a one-horse race by half-time, with Steve Hansen’s men leading 16-3 and 71 per cent to 29 per cent on possession.

These All Blacks have established a landmark in team sports. Many times since the inaugural tournament in 1987 they have threatened to own the sport they play, as Brazil once did in football. Strange, then, that they have spent so many of the intervening years defending themselves against accusations of arrogance and choking. Now, in New Zealand and here in England, the haka-led, dark-liveried brilliance of the All Black way has ascended to a peak no rival can match - in either hemisphere. Except that an awkward truth lurks behind this latest conquest.

The All Black side who saw-off Australia here was breaking up in its greatest moment. Five players with 614 caps between them have found the perfect way to leave the stage, after 14 consecutive wins in World Cup matches, and with age and mileage telling them there could be no better time to go. Carter, Richie McCaw, Ma’a Nonu, Conrad Smith and Keven Mealamu will all lay down their All Black jerseys. Nonu made the first major break of this match as if to inform Australia of the onslaught that was going to come. Nonu and Smith, who played together 62 times at centre, were the dominant midfield force before Smith gave way to Sonny Bill Williams at half-time.

Sonny Bill’s first act was a skilful offload. There was a pattern here: a fully mature fighting force of players who could summon skills from 1-23, with the deepest sense of how to come through sticky patches, and a mighty will to win. New Zealand always had the skills. But not always did they have this phenomenal winning mentality, which expresses itself best through Carter and McCaw.

The only outbreak of seriously muddled Kiwi thinking was the leg-lifting by full-back Ben Smith that sent him to the sin-bin. In those 10 minutes, Australia ran up 14 points, with converted tries for David Pocock and Tevita Kuridrani. A curious feature of rugby even at this elite level is the loss of self-control some players succumb to under pressure. Big games are littered with avoidable transgressions. And this one by Smith was utterly frivolous, right in front of the assistant referee. Thus the score lurched from 21-3 in favour of New Zealand to 21-17.

A great tournament flirted with the possibility of an all-time greatest ending. Steam bellowed from the Australian chimney. This New Zealand side, though, have transcended the old fragility. Carter knew a further statement was called for. His dropped goal moved him closer to 19 points from the boot for the match. He heads to France, of course, as the game’s all-time leading international points scorer. There are many ways to judge a World Cup, but the quality of the champions is still the best criterion.

You can fill all the grounds you want, but without a winning team who can show people what the sport is capable of you can advance no further than marketing. A tournament that lost the hosts 28 days before the final found champions who had come the furthest distance of all to deliver the best possible message.

McCaw won 131 of his 148 games in an All Black shirt and is the one who held it all together for these consecutive world titles. Carter supplied the orchestration and panache. The cruelty of his injury four years ago was finally laid to rest. For the team he leaves behind, a large rebuild awaits. For Carter, three money-making seasons lay ahead. Even Paris will envy his coolness and style.

— The Telegraph Group Ltd, London 2015