Rugby-World Cup finalists up for Team of the Year award

LONDON, Oct 29 (Reuters) - New Zealand and Australia, who meet in the World Cup final on Saturday, have been shortlisted for World Rugby Team of the Year along with Argentina, who reached the semi-finals, and Japan. The All Blacks have lost only once in 2015 -- to Australia -- and are seeking to retain the Webb Ellis Cup and become the first country to win the trophy three times. "Reaching a Rugby World Cup final requires great strength in depth across an entire squad so the achievements for Australia and New Zealand in that regard are amazing," World Rugby chairman Bernard Lapasset said in a statement on Thursday. "Argentina, they have improved so much in recent times and their performances both in The Rugby Championship and Rugby World Cup are testament to that. "Japan arrived at Rugby World Cup 2015 with great optimism and then shocked the world with their victory over South Africa. They backed that up with victories over Samoa and USA and narrowly missed out on a quarter-final place." Steve Hansen (New Zealand), Michael Cheika (Australia), Daniel Hourcade (Argentina) and Eddie Jones (Japan) are the nominees for World Rugby Coach of the Year. The winners will be announced on Nov. 1. (Reporting by Justin Palmer, editing by Mitch Phillips)