When the All Blacks gathered to collect their bronze medals at Tokyo Stadium after defeating Wales 40-17, there was quite definitely an overwhelming sense of it being the end of an era.
Not only was Steve Hansen, a coach with 16 years association with the team leaving, so too were captain Kieran Read and other long servers such as Sonny Bill Williams, Ben Smith, Ryan Crotty and Matt Todd.
Obviously, the bronze medal match was not where they had all wanted things to end. The dream was to end things at Yokohama Stadium the following night, crowned world champions for a third successive time.
This was a team that had set itself big goals during Hansen's tenure and typically the higher they reached, the better they played.
But it wasn't to be in Japan. The All Blacks didn't have the tactical smarts to beat England in the semi-final.
They didn't have the accuracy or urgency and the direct, confrontational football mixed with precision and creativity that they had produced to beat South Africa and Ireland, it wasn't anywhere to be seen against England.
It made for a disappointing end to what had been an incredible decade for the All Blacks.
And that was the important thing to not lose sight of as some great players and a great coach bid farewell to international rugby in Tokyo. It was a time to be reflective, but not sad and critical.
It was time to appreciate that the last 10 years had been special – a period that had seen the All Blacks consistently play some of the best rugby of the professional era.
The numbers told a story in themselves. In 2010 and 2011 the All Blacks played 26 tests and won 23, including being crowned world champions.
It was a two-year stint of stunning rugby that saw the All Blacks score 119 tries and beat every major rugby nation at least once.
This story is from the Issue 203 December 2019 - January 2020 edition of NZ Rugby World.
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This story is from the Issue 203 December 2019 - January 2020 edition of NZ Rugby World.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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