WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Whatever the outcome of Saturday's final between the Hurricanes and Highlanders, Super Rugby will crown a first-time champion and a wait of almost 20 years will end for some of the tournament's most long-suffering fans.



The Wellington-based Hurricanes and Dunedin-based Highlanders are playing in their second final, and the Hurricanes are hosting the championship match for the first time.



The Highlanders made their only previous final appearance in 1999, the Hurricanes in 2006, and both were thwarted in their title ambitions by seven-time champion the Crusaders.



Now, in the fifth all-New Zealand final and the first since 2006, the Hurricanes and Highlanders have the chance to claim the prize that has eluded them for 19 years.



One of the teams will become the fourth of New Zealand's five Super Rugby teams to win the championship after the Crusaders (seven times), the Blues (three times) and the Chiefs (twice), and the eighth team to win the title since the tournament's inception in 1996.



The fact neither team has won a Super Rugby title has raised anticipation of the match among fans to a fever pitch.



The 34,500-seat Wellington Regional Stadium is a sellout: The first 20,000 tickets sold online in 59 seconds, and fans queued overnight in cold conditions to be on hand when the second lot of tickets went on sale.



The respective histories of the sides, including their lack of previous success, are among the factors that make the final more compelling than many in recent years.



The Hurricanes are widely seen as the best team never to have won the championship. They have often had star-studded lineups, they have continually played the most daring and attractive style of any team, yet, though they have made the playoffs on six occasions, they have never gone on to win.



Their failure has been a cause of frustration, even exasperation among their fans, but they retain one of the most enthusiastic and loyal fan-bases in the tournament.



Those fans believe that this year, after finishing atop the table at the end of the regular season, a history of disappointments will finally end.



The Highlanders, from the deep south of New Zealand's South Island, have been among the tournament's perpetual strugglers, having made the playoffs only four times, and not since 2002.



Their policy to prefer local players over recruited stars has often left them with one of the tournament's less fashionable rosters, but that approach also inspires fierce fan loyalty.



Coach Jamie Joseph has steadily built a team which, though light on star players, has depth, broad experience, and a tactical flexibility that has underpinned its performance in this, its best ever season.



While they prefer to play an expansive, ball-in-hand style similar to the Hurricanes, they reverted to a kicking game last weekend which enabled them to depose defending champions the Waratahs in Sydney.



The Highlanders are likely to revert to type Saturday, promising a final which will see open rugby from both sides.



"We know the tactics we employed last week won't work against the Hurricanes," Highlanders co-captain Ben Smith said.



"So it is just about getting our game plan sorted." The Highlanders may still need some tactical adjustment.



The teams have played twice this season, and the Hurricanes won both matches, 56-20 in their most-recent meeting at the end of the regular season.



Captain Conrad Smith, who is one of several players who will make their last appearances for the Hurricanes, said his team would likely adhere to a successful style.



"We try to come up with a game plan," Smith said, "but to a large extent we're pretty happy with the way we play the game, and we just want to keep at that, playing at speed, and a tempo that creates opportunities. We just need to do what's got us this far, and hope it can go one more week." — AP