Australia and Tahiti played two matches to reach the final with the semi-finals being played over two legs. For Australia, they didn't need to qualify to the main draw for the 1996 OFC Nations Cup as one of the two automatic teams to qualify teams to get through to the final round. In the semi-final, they took on New Zealand in their semi-final. In the first-leg played at Christchurch, they held New Zealand to a scrappy nil-all draw with the Australians squandering three opportunities to score including one which hit the crossbar. In the second leg played at Newcastle, Australia would get a 3–0 victory over New Zealand to take home the Trans-Tasman Cup as goals from Damian Mori, Paul Wade and Joe Spiteri secured the spot into the final.