KEY POINTS:
It was the glow the All Blacks hope to emulate at the World Cup after 20 years of emptiness.
For the same two tortured decades, the Vellere family have been searching for the All Black jersey French fullback Serge Blanco gave 10-year-old Tony Vellere after the 1987 World
Cup final.
During that tournament, the youngster befriended Blanco when the French stayed and trained near his then hometown of Whangarei. Blanco gave the family tickets to many games and, after the final, swapped jerseys with his All Black opposite John Gallagher and gave the black No 15 uniform to young Tony.
When the proud boy walked out of Eden Park that day with Gallagher's jersey slung over his shoulders, a suspicious security guard disputed his right to the souvenir. He thought the boy had stolen the jersey in the general melee after the whistle and took it from him.
By the time the youngster found his mother and explained the problem, the security guard and jersey had disappeared.
For 20 years, Mr Vellere, friends, family and others have tried to trace the jersey without success. They assumed the guard had kept the rugby treasure. "I had given it away. I was sure it was lost," Mr Vellere said. "But this is amazing."
He had just learned Gallagher's original jersey had been returned to his mother Dianne, in an emotional handover at the weekend. Luck and circumstances permitted the reunion.
It turned out the guard handed Gallagher's jersey to Jack McGowan, who was on duty that day at Eden Park as the deputy chairman of the Auckland Rugby Union and World Cup committee member.
Once the kerfuffle of the day died down, Mr McGowan's endeavours to track down more information about the jersey and the young boy withered.
The jersey stayed with the McGowan family and one of Mr McGowan's daughters, Kerrie, wore it to several fancy dress parties. Tony Vellere stayed in regular contact with Blanco as they continued to try to trace the jersey.
Meanwhile, Mr McGowan's son, Ross, a primary school principal, was at a recent dinner party when someone remarked about a Herald story on the misplaced All Black jersey.
Mr McGowan suddenly had the missing clue about the jersey and at the weekend was able to hand it back to Mrs Vellere.
"It is absolutely fantastic," Mr Vellere said from Australia, where he was finishing some work before making his way to the World Cup.