To drive around the country during those weeks was to see a rare unity of national purpose.
Everywhere, in town squares, shop windows and in the front paddocks of farms, the silver fern was flying and signs said, "Go All Blacks". But it wasn't just about the long wait for another World Cup win. It wasn't that grim.
It wasn't just about rugby, either. The man who deserves most of the credit for all this, Martin Snedden, has just written a book about the organising effort under the title of its aim: A Stadium of 4 Million.
In the book he writes: "I didn't believe we were a country of four million rugby supporters. It worried me that there were in fact hundreds of thousands of Kiwis, maybe a million or more, who didn't give two hoots about rugby or who actively disliked the game and everything it stood for.
"Most of all, it worried me that the research was showing that for every two males who were rugby supporters, there was only one female supporter. There are more than two million females living in New Zealand. That was a sector of our society that we needed to engage and win over."
That he succeeded is history now. Women loved the World Cup and they more than men, I think, made it what it was.
Snedden attributes most of this to the festival they instigated that made the World Cup an "expo" of art, music, fine food and Kiwi ingenuity, among other things. But I suspect the main reason was that just about everyone wanted to have fun.
Who cared whether rugby was good, bad or indifferent? It was just a game that this country happened to play with great success and even those who disliked it could enjoy the attention, with nonchalance if they wanted.
The greatest achievement of Snedden's operation to my mind was to spread the event over the whole country. That wasn't as easy as it sounds. The finances of the event meant they had to make all their money from stadium seats and it would have been more economic to hold the entire event in the main centres.
The visiting teams would have been happy with that. The idea that they might want to get well-acquainted with a particular region was dashed when their officials were consulted. They didn't want their players to be in one place too long.
They seemed to know that professional rugby has weakened the game's place in the provinces. The hope that they might be immersed in the warmth and rigour of small-town rugby communities was a romantic delusion of mine.
Snedden realised quickly that their plans were beyond the resources of local rugby unions and, by and large, he says, the host unions accepted that. The heavy lifting was left to local bodies who financed the upgrading of the ubiquitous Rugby Park, renamed "Stadium (Region)", and set up committees of business leaders to ensure the event was well promoted locally and commercial opportunities were not missed.
The stadium (naming rights now available) in every small city is the most visible legacy of the World Cup, but it would be a pity if some of the spirit of the event cannot be retained around rugby.
Now that the cup is won, the demon slain, surely our rugby culture could lighten up. It seems not, on the evidence of this week's criticism of Sir Graham Henry for giving Argentina some coaching for the game against the All Blacks tonight.
What a pity to hear his successor muttering about it. I'd hoped Steve Hansen's sights were set as high as Henry's for the good of the game.
Our dour, undemonstrative way of watching rugby and our reputation for going very dark when the All Blacks don't win were a constant worry before the World Cup.
Snedden doesn't dwell on that in the book. He brought out our better half and made it fun.
A Stadium of 4 Million will be published by Hodder Moa on Tuesday.
