Phew, what a close call for our Kiwi cobbers across the ditch.
From the time that the French formed an arrowhead to face down the haka to the last play of the Rugby World Cup final to when All Blacks replacement scrumhalf Andy Ellis kicked the football into touch to finish the game, red hot favourite New Zealand looked decidedly shaky at times.
Rank outsider France went within a solitary point of springing a monumental upset that would have sent the Land of the Long White Cloud into another four years of soul searching and questioning what went wrong.
Well it’s history now how the All Blacks finally broke their 24-year World Cup drought and reign supreme over all the rugby world.
And good luck to them.
They’ve been the world’s best team between RWCs so many times you lose count.
Now they have the William Webb Ellis Trophy - aka in these parts as ‘‘Bill’’ - nicely tucked away in Kiwiland for the next four years.
While the parties and celebrations continue across the Tasman leaving the rest of us to get on with life, it’s onward and upward to RWC 2015 in England.
Back to where rugger kicked off all those years ago.
Even though France more than likely will be waving bye-bye to quite a few of their players and with a new coaching team in place, they may well go one place higher and claim ‘‘Bill’’ next time.
‘‘Bill’’ was oh so close to being bound for Paris this time.
In Sunday night’s final, once again France showed how well they can play at the highest level and under extreme pressure.
Honestly and realistically France was the only team that could have seriously troubled New Zealand at Eden Park in the final.
Fully focused, that’s exactly what they did.
On the home front, Australia has some talent within its ranks - none more so than the exciting and ice cool James O’Connor and the brilliantly gifted Kurtley Beale.
By 2015 David Pocock should have taken over from Richie (Sir Richard?) McCaw as the world’s undisputed premier openside flanker. Unless someone else pops up in the meantime, that is.
So it should be the likes of O’Connor, Beale and Pocock who lead the Wallaby charge.
However - and this is Australia’s perennial problem - until the Wallaby scrum (cracked record time) can match it with the All Blacks, France, South Africa, England, Argentina ...just about any other team in world rugby - their campaign will continue to be clouded in doubt.
That might be stating the bleeding obvious, but it’s a fact. An important fact.
As the television cameras panned across the faces of the players during the magnificent renditions of the New Zealand and French national anthems, their forwards looked seriously tough.
They were seriously tough in the secret men’s business world of scrums, rucks and mauls. Tough as teak as the old description goes.
So Australia, get cracking and find some big tough, uncompromising units with plenty of mongrel.
The next World Cup in England will be as tough as it gets.
Roll on 2015. It'll be here before we know it.
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