"It came down to how much desire, how much courage the boys had," he said, indicating that the experience of past failures had mentally prepared the senior players for a night "you couldn't get much tougher than".
As unlikely as the scoreline was, it was indicative of a mentally and physically tired All Black side - clearly the best at the tournament - limping across the line.
In Stephen Donald they found a hero to match the scoreline.
Cast as a pariah after the test loss to Australia at Hong Kong last year, the England-bound first-five had been in the international wilderness since.
He was whitebaiting when he got the call to join the squad as fourth-choice first-five. Unused off the bench against Australia he entered the World Cup final after 34 minutes, when Aaron Cruden joined Daniel Carter and Colin Slade as No10 casualties.
In his 23rd test, Donald handled the immense pressure superbly. Taking over from Piri Weepu, who had missed two penalty goal attempts and the conversion of prop Tony Woodcock's first half try, he stepped up and kicked a 30m penalty goal in the sixth minute of the second half. It ultimately proved to be the winning of the game.
Although a try to France's inspirational captain Thierry Dusautoir just minutes later made for a nerve-jangling final 30 minutes.
France might have been wearing white jerseys, but they indicated with their advance on the haka that they would not be flying a similar coloured flag any time during the 80 minutes.
Dusautoir later summed up his team's failure to win a World Cup final for the third time by saying they had "needed a tiny bit more skill" to go with the mental strength displayed. He could have been referring to two missed penalty goal attempts in the second half.
After withstanding immense pressure the All Blacks wound down the clock in "Southland-fashion" over the final few minutes, and the party began.
For survivors of previous failed campaigns like the coaching staff, McCaw and several senior players victory provided relief.
Character, resilience, discipline were the keys to hanging on to the slender lead, head coach Graham Henry said. "Personally I've got some peace. This thing was about winning and the guys have won the World Cup and that is outstanding ... there's not words for it quite frankly."
Departing assistant-coach Wayne Smith, a veteran of the previous campaigns derailed by the French in 1999 and 2007, said, "Sometimes it just comes down to what you've got under the fern, And what you've got in the top two inches."
The 2011 World Cup final was played in front of a 60,000-plus crowd. The All Blacks won. In the final analysis that was all that mattered.