KEY POINTS:
Not even the prospect of a tiring 26 to 30 hour journey home could dislodge the smiles on the faces of the All Blacks.
They flew out of a warm Cape Town airport as cheery and bright as the sunshine that poured down. There was an unmistakable sense that, by knocking off the world champions in their own backyard and doing so without conceding a point for the first time in Springbok-All Blacks test matches in this country, some sort of a Rubicon had been crossed.
There was an unusual readiness on behalf of the All Blacks management to talk up, rather than down, the achievements of this new-look squad.
First, Steve Hansen called Sunday "one of the great sporting days of New Zealand history". Then, asked how significant it would be should New Zealand end up retaining their Tri-Nations crown against seemingly all the odds, he enthused "It would be great, a huge achievement to win it.
"It would certainly give us a lot of confidence. There are some really good young men in this group, not just good rugby players. That bodes well for the future as well.
"This is a new team with a lot of new players very early in its infancy but this is the best win we have had.
"We have been under a lot of pressure as a group and we have responded magnificently to that pressure.
"I think we have had one or two top games, one against Australia and now this one, when a lot of people were writing us off." Sore heads among the players on Sunday morning in Cape Town? Hansen was even in favour of that scenario.
"I hope so. Some of them deserve to have sore heads. They have three weeks off now and the professional game means that you don't get too many opportunities to enjoy and celebrate your victories. We are lucky this time, we can. The guys had a couple of drinks and that's the way it should be."
Hansen believes that results such as Sunday's will be a huge advantage in developing the new look team.
"Results like this hasten the development process. When you have to go to the depths we had to go to in this match, from a physical and mental point of view, and to come out on the positive side, that certainly hastens the development of your players. They know they can go to the well and keep going to it. That is important."
But Hansen believes South Africa will bounce back from their disappointment, in the two Tri-Nations tests against the Wallabies over the next fortnight.
"I have no doubt they will be in the right space and up for those games. They will be very disappointed with themselves and they will be reminded of that all week in the papers. All their critics will be into them. I don't see them having any problem getting up next week. They play in Durban and then Johannesburg which is a very good hunting ground for them.
"Australia are under their own pressure: they haven't won away from home for 15 games and that's a monkey they have to get off their own back.
"So I have no doubt in my mind South Africa will definitely be up and ready to play next week."
