By the end, it was all black alright. Seemingly half of New Zealand had travelled over, and as Twickenham was engulfed in rain and a black sky more like midnight rather than tea-time, the All Blacks players saluted the tens of thousands who had sought shelter to the back of each of the ground's three layers.
Unlike the similarly taut 1995 final against the same opponents, and their 2007 quarter-final defeat to France, or other World Cup occasions, these brilliant All Blacks had held their nerve.
It's nice to know that Ireland helped launch the careers of Richie McCaw, Julien Savea, Aaron Smith and Brodie Retallick, who all made their debuts against Ireland, not to mention Steve Hansen's first game as head coach.
Furthermore, in addition to that ’07 defeat to France, Hansen referenced the All Blacks’ dramatic win over Ireland at the Aviva Stadium two years ago.
You can’t, as Hansen said after the 53rd win of 56 matches under his watch as head coach, beat experience.
“Experience allows that to happen,” he said of the way his multi-capped and decorated side saw out the last nine minutes without undue danger.
Greatest skipper
“We’ve probably got the greatest skipper, and probably the greatest player, the game has ever seen, albeit from a New Zealand point of view, and probably the world, but maybe we’re getting ahead of ourselves there,” he said of Richie McCaw.
“And it’s ironic. In 2007 as a young captain, he was criticised a lot, and I know that hurt him,” he added in reference to the 20-18 quarter-final defeat to France, when the All Blacks declined to go for a late drop goal. “And he’s grown. He’s grown his leadership skills and we as a team have grown people around him as well.”
Process
“We’ve had moments, and I can think of one obvious one against Ireland, where we had to keep that self-belief. So when you get into situations like we got tonight, then it’s just about the process. ‘What have we got to do right, now? And if we get that right, then what have we got to do next?’
“And it becomes the norm, I guess. Your leadership around the field is based around having experienced that many times before, and it’s a learning skill. Self-belief is a massive thing.”
It felt like a Tri-Nations game in Six Nations conditions, and perhaps even better, for the Rugby Championship doesn’t have this same mix of supporters from both countries.
The Boerewors and Braai stands were popular for those in green, whereas those in black opted more for burgers and pies.
The superior tactical kicking of the All Blacks halves held sway in their second-half recovery amid the increasing rain, and in paying generous homage to the Springboks, Hansen said: "We've played them a lot over the last few years and the Rugby Championship has been given a few smacks from up this way, but I think you saw tonight it's actually a really, really physical competition and if you haven't got physicality you can't play and if you haven't got skills you can't play either."
In a two-point game, Dan Carter landed both conversions from either touchline (to take his tally to 21 in this tournament), kicked only the seventh drop goal of his stellar test career (one of the others had been to snatch victory over Ireland in Christchurch in June 2012) and had the wit not to attempt another one as Fourie du Preez crowded him out in the endgame.
Carter also dislodged the ball from Schalk Burger in the lead- up to Aaron Smith and himself putting pace and width on the ball for Ma’a Nonu to brilliantly fix both Willie le Roux and JP Pietersen in putting Beauden Barrett over in the corner.
Dan Carter
All Blacks’ assistant coach
Ian Foster
was not of a mind to declare that Dan Carter was in the best form of his career, merely that he was “in the form that we need him to be in right now”.
But in the final analysis, Carter’s contribution was crucial.
These two superpowers gave us an epic rumble because they respect the game and each other.
Thinking back to the oft bitter, troubled and violent rivalry of many decades ago, there was hardly an act of foul play worth the name. Each side had a probable three points reversed for illegal clear-outs under the new World Rugby order, after recourse to the TMO. So, while silly, at least it was consistently silly.
Mistakes
After what he described as “the perfect first-half”, executing the game plan correctly, turning the All Blacks and building scoreboard pressure,
Heyneke Meyer
lamented: “In the second-half I didn’t think we adapted well enough to the rainy conditions. They kept on turning us then and we made a few mistakes.
“I’ve always said in World Cups a drop goal can be the difference, and fair play to Carter, when they needed that he put it through. We just didn’t build enough pressure to get the points.”
