Mils Muliana: 'We love to drink with Ted, cos Ted is our mate'Few could argue it wasn't worth the two-week wait but New Zealand's pulsating Tri-Nations clincher over the hard-nosed Wallabies championed enough proof that these experimental laws need no longer obstruct our warm attention from sport's blessed ball game.
Hanging to the edge of the cliff by their fingernails, the All-Blacks managed to hold on as if there dear rugby lives depended on it - remarkably churning out a 21-point spending spree that would've even had Victoria Beckham up on her feet - to retain the silver.
All the big personalities stood up - Richie, Carter, Mils, So'oialo, Williams - especially Graham Henry. As if running through no man's land with nothing but a towel, the All-Black coach has tasted his sweetest triumph with Tri-Nations number four.
New Zealanders are used to pretty looking stuff rather than trudging their way through adversity and hard graft but a viscious word at half-time saw the All-Blacks cop a pounding like Amir Khan and sent straight back out to battle.
Ruthless sheer-bloody mindedness and character by the trailor load saw the All-Blacks surge back from a ten-point deficit.
It's scary to think how many players have jumped ship by either following the lure of the cash cow or the pension plan since les world cup miserable.
Piri Weepu, the summer's forgotten man, bounced back to take a tear jerking chunk of the celebratory game pie with his crucial match-winning try.
Richie McCaw proved once again that when it comes to getting the job done at the breakdown there is no one more industrious nor effective.
And when you've got ice-cold calming genius Dan Carter not even shelling a drop of sweat in the most unforgiving circumstances, you're well in control.
But it is hard to glance past Henry and his band of brothers for whom the decision to ditch the nonsensical rotation policy in favour of blooding some breathtaking talents in Richard Kahui and Jerome Kaino, should give him the reigns until the All-Blacks take on the world in their own back yard in 2011.
Good on you Graham...