Australia maintained their stronghold on International Rugby League this morning when they defeated underdogs Samoa in the Rugby League World Cup Final.

The score ended up being 30-10 with the Kangaroos in control for the entire game with Latrell Mitchell and James Tedesco both scoring two tries and Tedesco taking home Player of the Final honours.

While Samoa gave it their all they were simply outclassed by the Australians who secured their third straight World Cup tournament win.

After such a prolonged period of dominance, it is time that the Kangaroos are recognised as the best national side of either Rugby code.

The only other team that comes remotely close to Australia is the New Zealand All Blacks Rugby Union team but when looking at the facts it’s hard to even make a case for them.

In 1954 the first Rugby League World Cup tournament was held with Australia winning a staggering 12 of 16 tournaments with the Rugby World Cup being established 31 years later with the first tournament being held in 1987.

Only nine Rugby World Cups have been held thus far but even with the shorter history the All Blacks have only managed to win three tournaments.

What also makes the Kangaroos’ feat all the more impressive is the fact that only three nations have been able to win the Rugby League World Cup during its 66-year history while four have won the Rugby World Cup.

Both tournaments have had a total of five nations qualify for their respective finals with Australia, New Zealand, England/Great Britain, France and Samoa all having played in at least one Rugby League World Cup Final and New Zealand, Australia, England, South Africa and France all playing in at least one Rugby World Cup Final.

Even when only taking into account nine of the 16 Rugby League World Cups to make the playing field level with its Union counterpart the Kangaroos have still won eight of the nine tournaments compared to the All Blacks’ three.

These stats make it undeniable that the Australian Kangaroos are the most dominant national team in Rugby, both League and Union.