KEY POINTS:
World champion rugby league player Jerome Ropati thought he would stay under the radar on his way home to Auckland yesterday.
While the rest of the Kiwi contingent on the flight from Brisbane to Auckland sat up the front of the plane in business class, Ropati, who celebrated his 24th birthday yesterday, was down the back with his family in economy class.
But staying under the radar was never going to be an option when Ropati and the other Kiwis arrived at Auckland Airport, where an excited throng of hundreds waited for the return of their team and their first glimpse of New Zealand's newest world cup.
And what a reception those fans gave the team. Ropati, fellow players Manu Vatuvei and Evarn Tuimavave and a collection of support staff looked stunned when they walked through the arrivals lounge doors just after 6pm.
Fans ignored security staff and filled the arrivals walkway. Some clambered on top of railings, where they stood and cheered.
Children sat on parents' shoulders, many waving Kiwi and New Zealand flags bigger than them.
One of the nearby escalators was stopped and lined with people. The balcony overlooking the area was a wall of fans.
And in front of the conquering players was an impromptu haka, a grouping of men and toddlers and all in between
The crowd hushed for the haka, then pandemonium erupted again as a proudly grinning Ropati hoisted the silver World Cup above his head.
He told the Herald the win hadn't sunk in until he walked through the airport's arrivals doors and saw the welcome.
The team had always believed they could beat Australia - without that belief they wouldn't have won, he said.
He called the Kiwi performance as close to perfect as any game they had played.
Coaches Stephen Kearney and Wayne Bennett deserved a lot of credit for that, he said. The tactics, and the pride and self-belief they had instilled in the team, were the keys to the victory.
Ropati said Australia's aggressive counter to the Kiwi's pre-game haka - the Australians walked forward to eyeball the challenge - had "ramped up" the passion in the players and set them up for their win.
But there was one other telling factor behind the against-the-odds victory.
Ropati said the team sat down before the game and talked about it being their last chance to play together as a squad.
And that was what made Saturday night's historic win possible, he said.
After eight failures against Australia in their previous eight encounters, and having never won the World Cup despite 12 attempts, the Kiwis pulled off the game of their lives.
And they made sure rugby league in New Zealand will stay well above the radar, at least until the mammoth cup goes on the line again in five years.
