Straight after they held out what had appeared to be a final irresistible attack from Ireland thanks to Sam Whitelock’s precious penalty turnover on the occasion of his 151st Test, most of the All Blacks slumped to the Stade de France pitch.
It may have been exhaustion – they had to make far more tackles than Ireland throughout the previous 84 minutes – 261 compared with 181- but the success rate was the same: both teams made 88% of their tackles, New Zealand just had to make a whole lot more, especially in that heart-rending final assault which went for 37 phases.
And it may have been relief. They felt they owed Ireland one for that series defeat in New Zealand last year, so it’s no wonder many appeared overwhelmed when their 28-24 victory was confirmed by Wayne Barnes' final whistle – a win that will rate as being as important and as courageous and intelligent as their narrow semifinal victory over the Springboks at Twickenham in 2015.
An omen, perhaps? A week later they survived a little more adversity against the Wallabies when they lost Ben Smith to a yellow card before breaking out again to seal their historic back-to-back World Cup triumph relatively comfortably. Their ultimate dream of lifting the William Webb Ellis Cup remains alive and key playmaker Richie Mo'unga made no bones about that afterwards.
Argentina will arrive in Paris with confidence after stunning Wales in Marseille but, at the very least, the eighth-ranked team in the world will be an easier team to prepare for than Ireland were.
"This one was up there,” Ian Foster said afterwards. “It is a special day. The world has been talking about these two quarter-finals for 12 months now, even longer. France v South Africa is likely to be the same. They are massive games, two very proud teams, desperate to win it.
"Sometimes the sweetest victories are when your opponents play really well and test you to the limit. We didn’t want to play Ireland with two yellow cards. We played a lot of that game with 14 men but I couldn’t be more proud of the players. I thought we looked in control of it."
Aaron Smith’s first-half yellow card for what was adjudged as an intentional knock-on and Codie Taylor’s after the break for pulling down a lineout drive – which also resulted in a penalty try – did test the All Blacks to their limits and beyond but they appeared to possess such a sense of purpose that it didn’t matter.
Foster was right – they did appear to be in control despite playing the best team in the world with 14 men for 60 minutes and in the end Ireland appeared a little spooked by it.
What else? Well, presumably the criticism of skipper Sam Cane by sections of the overseas media and, indeed some of the New Zealand public, can now stop because his was an inspirational performance by a true leader when his team needed it most.
Similarly, Ardie Savea’s. But the way Jordie Barrett flew in on defence, Rieko Ioane scrambled and Anton Lienert-Brown collided with Irishmen once he came on was proof positive of New Zealand’s collective purpose but also maybe that this match-up was a little different. It was personal.
A word, too, on Jordie’s smothering of a very promising Ireland lineout drive in the final quarter – another small margin falling the All Blacks’ way and created by pure grit and determination.
Ireland coach Andy Farrell said: “It was two good teams playing outstanding rugby and unfortunately for us we came out on the wrong side of the score. Sport can be cruel."
“We’ve seen them [the All Blacks] time again taking the game away from people and they did it again.”
It wasn’t all bash and crash, either. The kicking of Richie Mo’unga and Beauden Barrett was exceptional and put real pressure on Ireland, especially in the second half as they found themselves in the uncomfortable position of chasing the game.
Mo’unga’s little shimmy and break for Will Jordan’s try was straight out of the Crusaders handbook and a reassuring reminder for his team that he can transfer his Super Rugby dominance on to the very biggest of stages.
Holed up in their soulless business park hotel beyond the Paris city limits, the All Blacks were quietly steeling themselves for this match because of that Irish setback last year and the one against England in that flat semifinal performance four years ago.
They will now no longer be underestimated.
"I suspect not,” Foster said. “The limelight was on Ireland, with 17 wins in a row. They’ve built a team for this sort of iconic moment; they had massive expectations. We have been there as a team, we know what that’s like. We know some things kill you in those situations. Our role was just to be quiet and steel ourselves for the challenge. We know Argentina well, they know us well, it will be a heck of a game, a southern hemisphere game."
He added: "I have seen lots of their games and they are tough, really physical. But I am still enjoying the victory [against Ireland] so we will see about that in the next couple of days."
Quite right, too. This performance needs to be celebrated properly - it has been four years in the making, after all.
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