OPINION: After tearing through the challenger series, Team New Zealand take on Oracle Team USA for the oldest trophy in international sport. Can the Kiwis make amends for the meltdown of 2013? Sportswriters Marvin France and Andrew Voerman debate who will win the America's Cup.

Marvin France – Dust off those old red socks, Burling and the boys are bringing the Auld Mug back home.

We all know in rugby that there is no substitute for match-fitness. Sailing is no different.

You can have all the training in the world but nothing can prepare a team for the cut and thrust of an America's Cup showdown like out-and-out match-racing.

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And while so much off the water has been weighted in the defenders' favour, on the water this is the one area where a team has a clear advantage and will go a long way to carrying the Kiwis across the line.

Since Oracle parked up after the qualifying series, Team NZ have had 14 of the highest-pressure races they could ask for - honing their skills and testing the boat with their Cup future on the line every time they took to Bermuda's Great Sound.

Yes, the defenders have had Team Japan to run training drills against.

But given how susceptible these catamarans are to collisions, there is no way Dean Barker would have pushed to the limit simply out of fear of damaging his Oracle overlords' vessel.

And yes, they were impressive in the qualifiers, beating Team NZ on both occasions. Yet safe in the knowledge that, regardless of the result, they were always going to be racing for the big prize, where was the pressure?

Apart from perhaps the second win over New Zealand to claim the qualifying series and one-point head start for the Cup match, Saturday (Sunday NZ time) will be the first time Oracle will compete with something at stake.

It would be akin to the All Blacks heading into a World Cup final against England with nothing but a warmup game against Japan, while the English battle past Ireland and the Springboks in the quarters and semis.

Whereas Team NZ go into the first-to-seven series battle-hardened and well accustomed to overcoming adversity, Oracle are undercooked and underdone.

The Kiwis have shown the benefits of competing day in, day out.

The last of the teams to arrive in Bermuda, they were short of racing heading into the regatta but have looked better and better each time they have hit the water.

That is not the only thing they have going for them, though.

Led by skipper Glenn Ashby and boom America's Cup rookie 'Pistol Peter Burling, the talent on board Aotearoa is undeniable. And should the forecast for the regatta of predominantly light winds, which they have excelled in, prove to be accurate, it could well be the perfect storm for Team NZ.

The starts have been their biggest weakness but fears over how Burling will fare against Jimmy Spithill may be overstated.

Artemis skipper Nathan Outteridge is a master of the start box and the word out of Bermuda was that he consistently got the better of Spithill in training, as well as beating him in their two round robin races.

Burling, meanwhile, showed he is a quick learner, twice out-smarting Outteridge in the pre-start on the final day of the challenger series, so make of that what you will.

Oracle are a formidable opponent, no one knows that better than Kiwi fans.

But with Ashby the only returning crew member from the spectacular collapse of 2013, this team does not carry the scars from that failed campaign.

They are a new group primed to make their own history. History we will all want to remember.

Oracle have an advantage in the America’s Cup match as a result of winning the challenger series round robin. GILLES MARTIN-RAGET/ACEA 2017

Andrew Voerman – Everything has gone Oracle's way so far, and we should expect that to continue.

Put yourself in Jimmy Spithill's shoes.

It's September 2013, and as skipper of Oracle Team USA, you've just come back from 8-1 down to beat Team New Zealand and retain the America's Cup.

You've seen off Grant Dalton, Dean Barker and co, despite them being way ahead of you for most of the campaign, and you've done it in humiliating fashion.

You've beat them so badly that you wonder if that might be the end of them. Given they've led the way in innovation for two decades and counting, you wouldn't mind it, but it doesn't eventuate.

Fast forward four years, to the Great Sound in Bermuda, home of the 35th America's Cup.

You've entered the first stage of the challenger series, even though you're the defender. That is a bit odd, but if you just keep talking, no one will kick up too much of a fuss.

You win it as well, gaining an advantage for the Cup match and showing Team NZ's rookie helmsman, Peter Burling, how it's done. You show him how to play the media as well, telling the world he's made some "fundamental mistakes".

Then you sit back and watch, as the remaining challengers are whittled down.

First it's your old mate Ben Ainslie, beaten by that Burling kid. Next it's Barker and Team Japan, after giving up a 3-1 lead - some things never change. Then it's Artemis Racing, the only team to beat you in the round robin, which is a relief.

So it's the Kiwis, but while they've been racing - capsizing, losing starts, and putting in a mixed bag of performances - you've been working on your boat all night, and getting plenty of practice in during the day.

Remember that advantage you got for winning the qualifiers? Turns out it actually means Team NZ will start down a point, and need to win eight races to your seven. It's a bit odd that they get punished for your success, but you don't make the rules.

You're inside the heads of four million New Zealanders, who are lapping up your every word. They're terrified, after what you pulled in 2013, and some are even wondering if you have a whole other boat hidden away somewhere.

There are times where you wonder if it's the Kiwis who might be hiding something, but you don't dwell on that for long.

You have a spy inside their team, and he hasn't heard anything. Or was that just something you made up for a laugh? You don't remember, but it doesn't matter.

You've got their number, and even if they come out of the blocks all guns blazing, you've got one final card to play - a five-day break between races four and five that gives you a chance to catch up.

You couldn't lose from here, could you?

Who do you think is going to win? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to keep up with the play, right here on Stuff - the America's Cup begins on Sunday morning (NZ time), just after 5am.