One rugby fan has snapped up this Waiheke Island cottage and a World Cup final ticket in the one deal. Photo / Supplied
One Auckland rugby fan has been happily soaking up the World Cup atmosphere in Japan, having snagged a most unusual deal.
Malcolm Briggs and his partner recently bought a hillside Waiheke Island bach with gorgeous ocean views.
But adding lustre to the deal was the fact the cottage came with a ticket to last night's Rugby World Cup final and $5000 for flights and accommodation.
That meant the minute the ink began drying on the purchase, Briggs set about hunting down flights and a hotel.
"The World Cup ticket wasn't a swaying factor in us buying the place, it was just a nice added bonus and hence here I am talking to you from Japan," he told the Herald.
The downside to the golden deal, however, was that England made mincemeat of the All Blacks in the World Cup semi-final shortly after Briggs bought his flights.
It meant he would no longer be watching the All Blacks in the final. Instead he headed to the England and South Africa clash.
Yet even that has turned out okay for the Howick local.
"I'd have preferred the All Blacks to be there in the final, but I'm half English anyway," he said.
"My mum is English, so I can still back England."
Briggs also had to negotiate a potentially sensitive issue with his partner in that the purchase of the Waiheke Island cottage in Woodside Bay came with just one World Cup final ticket.
One of the two had to miss out.
As it turned out, his partner had to go to the United States for work anyway, so crisis averted.
Briggs said the atmosphere in Japan had been electric.
The hype was next level compared to that for the Bledisloe Cup clashes he had been to in Australia and New Zealand before.
He headed down to the Tokyo fanzone for All Black-Wales third-placed clash, before taking a seat with the 70,000-odd fans at the final.
"When I came into the airport, about three-quarters of the people were there for the rugby," he said.
"It's just buzzing, there's lots of tourists in town and the people over here are so nice and polite."
But while the World Cup final tickets were a bonus, Briggs said in reality they did not play a major part in he and his partner's decision to buy the Waiheke Island bach.
They had looked at the property about nine months earlier when its asking price was a lot higher.
Then a mate at work recently spotted the 70sq m cottage and its more than 4300 sq metres of land back up for sale, and he and his partner pounced.
The cottage features a bath with a view on its decking, modern kitchen featuring granite top benches and a furniture package included in its purchase price.
It also has two bedrooms, road access and a spot for the boat as part of an original $899,000 asking price.
But there is a twist. It is on a title that means its owner can only stay 30 consecutive days at a time.
The previous owners had rented the bach out as an Airbnb.
Bayleys selling agent Mana Tahapehi earlier told property website OneRoof, the previous owners "consistently had over 65 per cent occupancy over the past three years, with a turnover of over $70,000 a year".
"There are forward bookings of $20,000," he said.
Tahapehi said the previous owners' decision to list the cottage for sale with a World Cup final ticket thrown in helped drum up interest in the property.
Yet they didn't give away everything.
They still had two other tickets to the World Cup final and have now been holidaying in Japan since the Quarter Finals watching games, Tahapehi said.
Lui Nifo paddled out to help with the rescue after the vessel hit a reef, the NZDF says.