And so, 24 years on, we are back where we started. New Zealand will play France at Eden Park, Auckland, in the final of the seventh Rugby World Cup, just as they did at the end of the first in 1987.
Back then the final took place on a Saturday afternoon, 20 June, in the thin sunshine of the Kiwi winter. Now we are in spring, full of magnolia and showers, with the forecasters advising spectators to take something warm to wear for the 9pm kick-off on a Sunday. In 1987, New Zealand was shut at that hour of the night. Now, it hasn't even got going.
On the Monday after the first final, John Gallagher was back on the beat as a police officer in Wellington. The only contact his latter-day equivalent at full-back, Israel Dagg, may have with the long arm of the law is to be pulled by it out of a bar, where he may – and this is only because he has a bit of previous – be making a dent in his NZ$100,000 (£51,000) bonus. Should the All Blacks, that is, do what they did in 1987 and beat France.
I hasten to add that Dagg, like Gallagher, is one of the superstars of the World Cup. It's just that he isn't a copper.
Gallagher, now headmaster at Colfe's preparatory school in London, was one of only two Wellington players in the final, the other being the second-row Murray Pierce. Ten of the All Blacks played for Auckland, then the powerhouse of the game: John Kirwan, Joe Stanley, Grant Fox, David Kirk (captain), the late John Drake – the prop died of a heart attack in December 2008 – Sean Fitzpatrick, the Whetton brothers, Alan and Gary, and the stupendously gifted Michael Jones.
The wing forward is a bit of an odd case because he wouldn't have played in this 2011 final – religion, Sunday, Euan Murray, etc – and also because he had already been capped by Western Samoa, as they were then, which nowadays would mean he stayed Samoan. Imagine the tweet from Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu if New Zealand had pinched one of his team-mates here.
Warwick Taylor and Craig Green were from Canterbury, and the mighty Wayne "Buck" Shelford played for North Harbour. Hell, that's a good team.
France were from a real mix of clubs, some of them now not very near the Top 14. Jean-Pierre Garuet, the prop, was from Lourdes, Didier Camberabero on the wing, from Béziers, and Alain Lorieux, the lifeguard (maître nageur sauveteur) with the fire-rescue services and second row, was with Grenoble, having transferred from Aix-les-Bains in 1985. He was one of those who had become a star at this inaugural tournament, especially in France's epic 30-24 win over Australia in the semi-final.
The winning try at the Concord Oval in Sydney was scored by Serge Blanco, one of three from Biarritz, the others being Jean Condom in the second row and Pascal Ondarts at prop. Agen provided four: the centre Philippe Sella, wing forward Dominique Erbani, scrum-half Pierre Berbizier, and captain and hooker Daniel Dubroca. The other players were Patrice Lagisquet (the Bayonne Express), Denis Charvet (Toulouse), Franck Mesnel (Racing), Eric Champ (Toulon), and Laurent Rodriguez (Montferrand). Hell, they weren't a bad side, either.
They came a distant second, though, exhausted by that semi-final and crushed by one of the great sides of all time. Grant Fox dropped a goal to start a trend in World Cup finals, and there were tries by Jones – after a second drop at goal was deflected and France were left in a defensive muddle – Kirk and Kirwan. It finished 29-9.
When the game ended there was a bit of a sprint off the field because of a pitch invasion by 46,000. On Sunday, 60,000 will have to stay put. Kirk took the cup and gestured to the non-playing captain, Andy Dalton, who had been injured and who had not played a World Cup minute, to share the moment.
Victory touched captain Kirk in a strange way: "There was a touch of melancholy," he would say later. "It must be how people feel at the top of Everest. They are here for only 20 minutes and won't ever be back. The only way is to go back down."
It's been a while since an All Black went back up. I think we may struggle to see anything of the melancholic in Richie McCaw if he is presented with the Webb Ellis Cup at approximately 11 o'clock on Sunday night.
