But captain Stephen Moore concedes Australia need to crack down on their ill-discipline to avoid being booted out of the contest against New Zealand at Twickenham.

Owens will take charge of a mouth-watering trans-Tasman battle in the World Cup final on Saturday (Sunday morning AEDT) and the Welsh referee has a cult following for the way he interacts with players. The Wallabies have won 33 per cent of games when Owens is referee while the All Blacks boast a record hovering around 90 per cent.

Most recently he sent Quade Cooper to the sin bin at a disastrous Bledisloe Cup match in Auckland in August as New Zealand romped to an easy win. It's an ominous sign as the Wallabies attempt to break a 16-year World Cup drought, but if the players are worried they're not showing it.

"I think he's the best ref in the world at the moment so [getting the final is a] very well deserved appointment," said Wallabies No.8 David Pocock. "I've been reffed by him a number of times and I find his communication and everything really good. I'm looking forward to it. Nigel, he's one of the characters. People love him for the way he interacts with players and his honesty out there on the field, the cheeky little remarks. It's always good fun."

Owens has a unique way of dealing with players on the field, mainly because of the way he communicates with players, and it's the "cheeky" remarks that set him apart. He once called all 30 players on the field into a mid-pitch meeting and told them: "You're adults, you'll be treated like it as long as you behave like it."

Owens, who is openly gay, also mocked a team's lineout throw when he said: "I'm straighter than that one." But it's the running commentary during the games that the Wallabies are excited about as they attempt to snap a trend of matches when Owens is in charge.

"I've been really impressed, I really have across the board [with referee communication]," Pocock said. "I think the refereeing has been outstanding. They've clearly put a lot of work into it individually and with the referees' bosses. The communication has been great."

Moore added: "I think the thing we've seen more of from the referees at this World Cup is talking on the run. Whether it be around the breakdown or scrum, guys talking specifically to players and saying 'hands away' and then actually acknowledging when they do it.

"They're saying 'well done', or 'good job' … I guess that's a bit more informal but it works really well with the players. You get to understand what the boundaries are."

The Wallabies have given away 10.3 penalties per game at the World Cup, with almost 75 per cent of those coming inside their own half.

Of the 59 points they've conceded in the quarter final and the semi-final, 30 of those have been through penalty goals. It's a worrying trend Moore says they must reverse to ensure All Blacks sharpshooter Dan Carter doesn't have a chance to kick them out of the World Cup.

"We have talked about that, and we talked about it last week as well but there are fine lines, but there are penalties that we know we can control," Moore said.

"Things like offside, it's really important we stay disciplined. The breakdown, tackle area, is where both teams constantly push the boundaries. Sometimes you're going to be on the wrong side of that.

"We certainly want to continue testing every possession out there, but we have to be clever about how we do that."