The All Blacks proved their mettle yet again. The reigning champions tackled the Wallabies in the final match of the Rugby World Cup and emerged as victors again, leaving little doubt that they are the best in the game. New Zealand became the first team in the history of Rugby World Cup to retain the title.
While Australia gave their best shot and defended vigorously, the All Blacks dominated the first half. But the Wallabies made a comeback and midway through the second half the score rest at 21–17. Dan Carter extended the defending champion’s lead with a long-distance drop-goal and penalty. And it was substitute Beauden Barrett’s solo run in the last minutes that sealed the victory for New Zealand.
Carter, who had missed the finals four years back due to an injury, said, “I am pretty grateful to be where I am considering what happened four years ago. I am so proud of the team. To win back-to-back World Cups is dreams come true—it is a special feeling to be part of such a team.”
Australian captain Stephen Moore said, “They thoroughly deserved to win. They have been the best team in the tournament and they played really well tonight.”
Black to Black!
Wednesday morning when the All Black team alighted at the Auckland airport, they were welcomed by fans waiting for them under the rain. The rain hardly seemed to bother people as they cheered and welcomed the world beaters with unmatched enthusiasm. The reception at the airport was only a small glimpse of what the players saw, as thousands thronged the victory parade of the All Blacks from the hotel to Victoria park.
Generally a five-minute walk, it took the team more than half an hour from Victoria street to Victoria park as the crowd filled the streets. There were fans of all ages and they stood applauding their heroes and walked with the team to Victoria park. People lined up on the building and traffic at some places was thrown out of gear. Everything seemed justified for the All Blacks, who retained the world cup earned four years back.
The captain of All Blacks, Richie McCaw and Coach Steve Hansen held the victory cup and obliged to all the fans who kept on calling out to them. Other team members and support staff marched along on other open vehicles.
Upon reaching Victoria park, the crowd swelled to thousands. Many had been in the park as early as morning holding on to positions. The All Blacks team posed with fans for selfies and signed autographs. The whole team was overwhelmed with emotions with the response. Sunny Bill, one of the architects of the win, spoke to journalists about what he felt about the crowd, “It was great to see the turn up. All the boys are pumped.”
On the stage, Mayor of Auckland, Len Brown, lauded the effort of the All Blacks. “…to briefly acknowledge the outstanding achievement of our team in the recent Rugby world cup and in particular the fact that not just the cup, but in the last four years, they have lost only three out of 53 tests. That is brilliant performance.”
The modest skipper then to a thunderous applaud said, “Seeing all the fans today at the airport and here, seeing you all, makes all the hard work done worthwhile.” When asked about the support back from home before, finals he added, “We were told how people went nuts on Sunday morning. All I can say is I am glad that our boys could do the job and put smiles on the face. So for the next four years, whereever you tour, you can say we are the world champions and that is really cool.”
Between all of this, there was one person who really won the hearts of everyone. It was the young fan from Ruatoria, Kuratiwaka Ngarimu. His video in which he said Nehe Milner was a real man had gone viral and was seen by more than 180,000 times before the finals. He had even promised to get a cake made by his mum for his hero if All Blacks won the world cup. To everyone’s surprise, the little boy did come on to the stage with the cake and presented it to his idol.
The All Blacks team head were in Wellington on Thursday and will be in Christchurch on Friday. It is time to celebrate. After all, it is not every day that a team wins a world cup.