When you consider that rugby is, for all intents and purposes, the only thing that New Zealanders passionately, nationally care about this achievement is a big deal. It is even bigger since their last win of the cup was in 1987 and since then, they have been known as the best team in the world in all except title.
But surely the most heart-warming aspect of this result is the transformative power that sport has for a nation that has had a harrowing year. The earthquake in Christchurch devastated lives while the recent oil spill has done untold environmental damage. A win like this, watched by most of the world will give them back some national pride and allow them to truly celebrate.
The stakes for this match were clearly high. All sports fans experience the massive highs and lows of following a team and understand that we place a lot of importance on events that are out of our control. But the events of the earthquake and oil spill were out of the control of the average New Zealander.
Clearly, they were owed this.
-The English Student
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