I’m relieved, happy, emotional, proud and a bit homesick after this morning’s victory by New Zealand in the rugby world cup.

The last 12 months seem to have been a string of downers for NZ; the Pike River mining disaster, the Christchurch earthquake, and the environmental destruction that is still playing out in my hometown as a stranded container ship leaks oil and spills cargo into the sea.  No one can say that winning the world cup makes any of these things better.  But at least it’ll cheer people up for a while.

I just wish I could be there for the party.