Australia captain Stephen Moore heaped praise on Rugby World Cup champions New Zealand, admitting the All Blacks were worth winners over the Wallabies.

The All Blacks prevailed 34-17 at Twickenham on Saturday to become the first nation to retain the Webb Ellis trophy, and the first to lift the cup on three occasions.

Trailing 21-3 shortly after half-time, the Wallabies looked down and out but got back to within four points thanks to tries from David Pocock and Tevita Kuridrani.

But the boot of Dan Carter and a last-minute Beauden Barrett try saw the All Blacks pull away again, leaving Moore in no doubt as to who were the rightful winners.

"It's not about us tonight, it's all about New Zealand who thoroughly deserved the win," he said.

"They've been the best team all tournament, congratulations to them they played really well.

"What I'm proud of is the effort we showed. Sometimes you come up against a better team and that was us tonight.

"They thoroughly deserve everything they get.

"At half-time we talked about getting back into the game, we gave ourselves a chance and they showed their class there at the end, we just weren't good enough."