It was one of New Zealand's greatest sporting moments - and Prime Minister John Key nearly missed it.
Mr Key, an avid All Blacks fan, was among the 60,000 fans at Eden Park for the tense 8-7 Rugby World Cup final victory over France.
But the need to get ready for official duties meant he nearly missed the final whistle.
"About 10 minutes before the final whistle was blown we were told we had to go down to the field with (International Rugby Board chairman) Bernard Lapasset and a couple of other guys that were there," he told Radio New Zealand.
"(IRB chief executive) Mike Millar was telling us you've gotta go, Bernard Lapasset was going `no, I'm not leaving', and I was with Bernard, I was thinking I want to watch this, but in the end Mike Millar overruled us."
The official party were thus forced to get into an elevator with the score at 8-7 to get down to the ground for the presentations, and didn't know if there had been any more action when they got to ground level.
"When the lift doors opened down the bottom walking along you could hear all this noise and I was just thinking `please tell me this isn't France scoring'."
They eventually watched the last three minutes from ground level.
Mr Key said he was delighted with the result, and the overt patriotism shown by New Zealanders.
"That's what I think got them to guts it out in the last 50 minutes."
Mr Key said he expected visitor numbers to surpass 100,000 for the tournament, and the impact on the country would be priceless.
He said the country's mood would be buoyant on Monday but he didn't think it would have any impact on his bid for re-election.
"Today people feel good, but on November 26 people go in there and in the end they decide on whether you're going to get the accounts in order and whether you're going to lead the country in the right direction."
NZN