Fullback Mils Muliaina demonstrated why the All Blacks selectors had shown so much faith in him when he turned in a fine performance in Saturday's win over South Africa at Eden Park.
The 84-Test veteran turned in a performance that All Blacks coach Graham Henry rated as quite possibly his finest in the black jersey and he said he was delighted to be able to repay the faith that had been shown in him.
But while it had been good to be part of a great performance, it all started over again on Sunday, he said.
"I was a little bit scratchy [before the game]. It's been a long year and when other guys are playing well you can't do nothing about it, you sit back and you wonder if you've really got it in you but this week was probably the most relaxed I've ever been .
"It was just one of those games that went well, after the first dropped ball," he said.
While he was concerned with how the different lights at the ground might affect the view of high balls it wasn't an issue for him and he said the revamped stadium felt 'absolutely outstanding'.
"It was really, really loud out there considering half of it wasn't full. It felt really great, the night felt good and we put a good performance in that we should be proud of," he said.
Muliaina explained that when he dropped the first high ball to him his immediate thought was he would be assured of getting plenty more as a result but in the incident which led to New Zealand's first try, he got a good call from Joe Rokocoko to go down the sideline when returning a South African downfield kick.
However, a hole opening up in front of him, which initially had been a wall of black jerseys, had provided an opportunity for him to blast into an opening and the satisfaction for him was seeing his team-mates finish it off, which was what centre Conrad Smith did with a try.
"There's a lot of planning gone into this week and we've got to be really proud of that," he said.
But the process all started over again on Sunday.
There had been an edge to the game, and while there had been outstanding support for the team at Eden Park, he hoped they had been satisfied as a result of the nature of the win.