The World is Oval: New Zealand captain Richie McCaw was visibly surprised by the warm reception a crowd of 1,500 Kiwis gave the returning All Blacks in Christchurch airport yesterday.
It was a notable contrast to the vicious fallout after World Cup exits in 1999 and 2003.
"It might have been easier to take if people had been negative because that's what we expected but to have this is astonishing," said hooker Anton Olivier. "It's not recognition of one loss. It's recognition of four years; a Lions (Test series) victory, Bledisloe Cups, Tri-Nations, Grand Slams."
Only 17 squad members and the team management, arrived home as others were delayed due to family members or partners being unable to alter travel arrangements.
"We will be scarred for the rest of our lives and I mean that," said coach Graham Henry. "We will always remember this. We are the number one rugby side in the world and we have been for a long time and we still are. It's just that we haven't got that little yellow cup."
Within the realms of fantasy
The Irish TimesFantasy World Cup competition enters its penultimate weekend of matches with this column's entry suffering what can only be described as a total and utter "blip". An internal review has duly commenced.
After some misjudged loyalty to the Irish outhalf, our team "Inside Trader" slipped down the rankings to 1,648 out of over 10,000 entrants.
Excuses? Plenty. We were not, however, afraid to make wholesale changes after the early rounds but having neglected to read the rules this actually proved an error.
Any chances of improving on a meagre 386 points - the leaders are pushing 600 - are now reliant upon the trusty boot of Percy Montgomery.
In our Private League (a great idea at €20 a man/woman) PintaHeino RFC lead the way on 492 points, which is a respectable 27th on the overall leaderboard.
A special mention also to Foreign Legion (based in Vancouver) whose first-hand knowledge of the global game ensured an impressive 92 points in round three.
The overall winner receives a return flight to Sydney, luxury accommodation and a trip to the Wolf Blass Winery in the Barossa Valley near Adelaide.
Questions over Betsen blow
The website rugbydump.com has come up with an alternative take on what happened to Serge Betsen in last Saturday's World Cup quarter-final.
Betsen has been included in the French side to face England despite being knocked out just five minutes into the 20-18 victory over New Zealand.
The Biarritz flanker apparently sustained the blow tackling Joe Rokocoko but a side angle shows Betsen trying to regain his feet only for Keith Robinson to push him into the knee of the onrushing Fabien Pelous. As far as a citing goes, it was inconclusive but judge for yourself.
Ngwenya the trail blazer
If the IRB had reduced the World Cup to 16 nations in 2007 we would never have heard of Takudzwa Ngwenya.
The Zimbabwean-born US Eagles winger made two resounding contributions at this tournament. First he stopped Leicester Tigers winger Alesana Tuilagi for a great try against Samoa and secondly, four days later, burnt the man many believe to be the rugby's fastest player.
"I was thinking of kicking but then I thought I would try and get him to stop, and then gas him out wide," said Ngwenya. "And he did stop. It's not that I'm fast, I just got him to stop so that worked pretty well. I knew he would be annoyed. If I got beaten by a slower person, I'd be annoyed." Again we direct you to rugbydump.com under the heading "Takudzwa Ngwenya SMOKES Bryan Habana".
It is reported at least two English clubs and one French side believe he really is fast.
