Finals day dawned, and as we left the hotel in the morning we noticed the French team outside the hotel opposite, just setting out for a last training session. They looked very relaxed as they paused for photos and to chat to supporters and finally boarded their coach to a rousing chorus of the French national anthem. Stirring stuff!

We went down to the water front and caught a ferry over to Waiheke island. The island was much bigger than we imagined! We had assumed that we would be able to wander round and see most of it in a couple of hours but we soon saw that this is clearly not the case. You would need at least a day to explore properly and we only had two or three hours.

We avoided the melee of taxis and tour buses and walked for about 20 minutes into the small town of Oneroa where we paused for a coffee and an amazingly good date scone. The sun made an appearance and we sat on the beach and admired the view until it was time to stroll back and catch the return ferry to Auckland.

After a quick turnaround we were out again and on our way to Eden Park for the last time. Back in the Eden Park Pavilion things were pretty much the same as on previous occasions, except that they seem to have packed in even more people than before!! Well, at least the food was good and we had a delicious steak for the main course.

Of course there was a big build up for the game, especially as it was the final and the kiwis were involved. We had good seats almost on the halfway line and the whole ground was buzzing. As always at important finals there were plenty of famous faces around. Amanda waved to 'her mate' Sir Ric************ and he waved back!!

The game started with the usual kiwi hakka, and we were absolutely delighted to see the French respond with an arrow formation moving slowly forward. Fantastic stuff!! We were horrified to hear later that the French had been fined for this which is a pity, but we understand that they had crossed the halfway line which is not allowed. Still great to see them making a response to the hakka and may we see many more in the future!

The game got underway and it was soon clear that it was not going to go quite the way that many NZ fans had been expecting. Before the match our kiwi table companions had all been predicting an All Black win by 20 to 30 points. The French played an amazing game and, in spite of their rocky road to the final, on the day's showing, clearly deserved to win. It was the 'not so mighty' All Blacks who looked threatened and had to fight tooth and nail to hold onto a slender lead and they never even looked like scoring a try in the second half. Nevertheless the All Blacks defended hard and hold to the lead they did. In the end they managed to secure a win by a single point! The French were very gracious in defeat and naturally the home crowd were delighted to see their team win the trophy!

We were back to the EPP for post match drinks, snacks etc and a lot of banter round the table before finally leaving about 12.45 to make our way back to the hotel. It's all over for another four years!!