1999 World Cup winning Wallaby Owen Finegan believes Michael Cheika has named the best possible Australian side for tonight’s clash against Fiji and is confident the Wallabies are good enough to claim an unprecedented third Rugby World Cup in just under six weeks time.

“I wouldn’t have changed one of the selections across the board I think they’ve got the strongest team out of that squad that they could possibly put together, the former backrower told Rugby News.

“Barring injuries, I’d expect that same team to play against England next week.”

Finegan was one of the Wallabies best in 1999, scoring one of two tries in the Wallabies 35-12 victory over France in the final.

Although he was full of praise for the current crop of Wallabies, he said it was hard to draw comparisons to the 1999 squad.

“We had a couple of lean years in 96 and 97 but then in 98 and all of 99 we were constantly winning. In 1998 we beat the All Blacks three times and in 1999 we won the Tri-Nations, so we went in with plenty of confidence,” he said.

“In saying that, I’m really excited by this squad, they are the 15 blokes that I would have put on the field.”

Finegan admitted Michael Cheika’s Wallabies aren’t taking as much continuity into the World Cup as his side did, but said that might not be such a bad thing in the long run.

“Watching Fiji and England, Fiji really struggled in that last 20 minutes when they put their reserves on, where I think the Wallabies bench will be a strength,” he said.

“Michael Cheika doesn’t talk about reserves, he talks about finishers,so you can expect the guys that come on to make a real difference.”

Finegan played with and was coached by Cheika at Randwick and said he had full faith in the Wallabies mentor.

“On the field he was physical, aggressive and uncompromising and he’s the same as a coach.”

“But I think his real strength is how he manages the players, he doesn’t leave any of them thinking what his thoughts are, he’s very good at communicating to the players what he expects and what he requires from them.”

So does that mean Finegan is tipping Australia to win the World Cup?

“I think they are good enough to get to the semi final, then you just need some luck, anyone can win from there,” he said.

“New Zealand are probably the benchmark at the moment and this year it’s 1-1 between us. Hopefully we’ll play the decider in the final on a neutral ground with everything to play for.”

The Wallabies play Fiji at 1:45am (AEST) on Thursday morning.