The collisions were monumental and led to a spectacular outcome as the Manchester night sky was lit up on Saturday, but whether this was rugby league's Higgs-Boson moment or merely a case of the sport's global ambitions going out with an almighty bang remains to be seen.

A week earlier, Australia's rugby union players had stood on the turf and watched a stunning sound and light show before a relatively meaningless Test encounter.

At the sporting cathedral of Old Trafford everything was done the right way around, their compatriots who participate in much the more important version of rugby on their side of the Tasman earning the right to take the spotlight as fireworks exploded behind their winning team.

After a 13-year wait since they had last claimed it, Australia were once again holders of rugby's original World Cup, having seized it back from their antipodean neighbours in the most emphatic manner.

Only a couple of days earlier, Sonny Bill Williams, part of the winning All Blacks team at rugby union's World Cup and himself a serial winner - with 10 victories in 11 Tests, as well as wins in all six of his professional boxing bouts - had been named Rugby League International Player of the Year.

But in a team sport no individual, however gifted, can compete with the sort of collective power, skill and sense of purpose the Australians had brought to this tournament.

Since their opening match against England they had not conceded a try, and for all the brilliance the Kiwis had shown in finding a way to beat the English in the previous week's semi-final, that sequence rarely looked like being broken in the final.

At the other end, meanwhile, Australia were ruthlessly efficient.

In any other circumstances Billy Slater, their full-back who had made an astonishing recovery from a serious knee injury to take part and then inevitably open the scoring and score the second try immediately after the interval to wrap things up, would have been an automatic man-of-the-match.

Likewise, Brett Morris might normally have expected to be singled out for his courage and toughness after hurtling into the advertising hoardings head first - with total disdain for personally safety - to round off an exceptional move.

It was almost as if the winger knew nothing less than a try was an acceptable outcome after Josh Papalii's incredible off-load was outshone by Jarryd Hayne's extraordinary tap ahead then perfectly weighted kick on the run which sent the ball into the tiny in-goal area.

The sequence was so sublime that it might even be seen to challenge the try of the century registered just seven days earlier when, at a crucial stage of the semi-final against England, Dean Whare produced perhaps the most skilful act in the history of either rugby code to send in Roger Tuivasa-Sheck.

After treatment, Morris recovered to rub Kiwi noses in it. The holders were continuing to attack, seeking at least to draw consolation from a try, when Williams forced one pass too many and Hayne intercepted, reaching halfway before releasing the uncatchable Morris.

The sight of New Zealand's talisman, staggering broken and alone deep in enemy territory as the Australian team celebrated together some 90 metres away spoke volumes.

So, too, did the fact that it was Johnathan Thurston, scorer of none of their five tries - Cooper Cronk got the other - but their play-maker and machine-like goal-kicker, who got that man of the match award, just as on the tournament's opening day when they defeated England.

To compound Williams' and New Zealand's misery the match ended with his knock on and the Kangaroos formed a huddle for the last 15 seconds, celebrating both the victory and the try shut out.

Yet, if anything, it was an even bigger triumph for tournament organisers. Thirteen years ago they had been unable to give tickets away for a World Cup final attended by around 40,000 at this same venue.

A world record attendance for the sport of 74,468 was, then, a phenomenal achievement, but its value will only become clear as efforts are made to build on this joyous success.