Incoming prime minister Christopher Luxon says it's a "great start to the day" with National having won the election and the All Blacks winning its World Cup quarterfinal against Ireland.
"It's a great start to the day when you've got a National government and you've got the All Blacks winning again. I think that's normal resumption."
He said the All Blacks were "back on track" - a reference to National's campaign slogan.
Arriving at his first press conference today since the election, Luxon joked under the last National government the All Blacks never lost a World Cup.
"So we've got to keep working at it."
The occasion saw Luxon reunite with deputy leader Nicola Willis, who celebrated National's election victory in Wellington last night.
Willis gave Luxon a hug saying: "Good to see you. Well done."
On preliminary results, National has won 50 seats in the parliament and ACT 11 - enough for a majority - just. That means it's still possible National may make an arrangement with New Zealand First, especially once special votes come in.
Last night, Labour leader Chris Hipkins conceded the election, having served as prime minister since January after former prime minister Dame Jacinda Ardern resigned.
This morning, Luxon said he had not yet called New Zealand First leader Winston Peters.
"I haven't had a chance to do so."
He said he had appreciated Peters' comments last night offering help "and wanting to act in New Zealand's interests".
"I respect that. So I'm sure in due course I'll be in contact."
He said he spoke to ACT leader David Seymour twice yesterday and in previous months had spoken roughly every other day.
He said the two had not yet discussed specific policy negotiations but ensured "good alignment and good chemistry".
"When I've done mergers and acquistions, and I've done a lot of negotiations, getting the chemistry and getting the relationship right is the platform and the foundation for being able to work your way through the transactional issues. So that's what our conversations have been about."
Luxon said early candidate selections and "great ground game" with enthusiastic volunteers helped flip seats like Mt Roskill to National.
"We've been out of Wellington ... we've been listening to the New Zealand people."
Luxon expected to speak with Anthony Albanese soon although he understood Albanese had also had a busy night with Australia's failed Voice to Parliament referendum.
He said the foreign policy relationship with Australia was New Zealand's "number one".
'The Electoral Commission has one job': Luxon interested in problems
Luxon was also asked if he had any concerns about some issues people encountered trying to vote at polling booths yesterday.
The Electoral Commission confirmed there were some issues with the electronic version of the electoral roll causing delays for those casting special votes outside of their electorate.
Te Pāti Māori had also raised concerns about polling stations running out of ballots, and booths closing early.
"I am really interested in that. I think there were a number of issues where people didn't get their QuickVote [EasyVote] cards in place either, there's a number of issues.
"Frankly, the Electoral Commission has one job, which is to get organised every three years for a general election.
"There's be a natural process of wanting to do a review, what worked well, what didn't work well."
He believed the usual post-election review of the Electoral Commissions election processes would likely cover those issues, rather than the need for a specific review on them.
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