An ABs win is a win for NZ

It’s OK, guys, we’re back. You can stop flagellating yourself and talking in hushed tones, we have redeemed our reputation as rugby nation. It was a dark week before Saturday, and it wasn’t just the weather. We lost the rugby. We lost to Australia. And we lost badly 47-26.

New Zealanders stumbled about head in hands, shunned social events to avoid discussing the inevitable, and numbly kept away from sports channels. It wasn’t just any sporting loss. It was the hallowed All Blacks, who have, more than any other single New Zealand brand, made a mark on our country’s reputation.

After a long week, on Saturday we redeemed ourselves, as the Australian media called it: butchering, drubbing and bludgeoning the Wallabies 36-0.

Our country’s identity, more than that of any other nation, is wrapped around rugby; there is even a Wikipedia page dedicated to this.

Historically, sport was an important expression of national feeling for an emerging country like ours. It got us noticed internationally, boosting our egos when we felt inferior about our size and isolation.

Since then New Zealand has developed into what’s been dubbed by marketers ‘‘the new New Zealand’’ – the image of hard men, No 8 wire and rugby replaced by ingenuity, food, film-makers and fashion. We stopped feeling inferior and developed a pride in our newfound sophistication.

But alongside that, sport turned professional, recreation was commercialised and our rugby grew into a global brand.

Beyond the game, it plays an enormous role in representing us, from the colour black, the haka and the first use of the silver fern as the country’s emblem.

Fox sports coverage of Saturday’s game referred to our national colour: ‘‘The black of the stands at Eden Park. The black of the night sky. The black of the All Blacks.’’

This brand was estimated to be worth $250 million after the last World Cup win, putting it up there with baseball’s Boston Red Sox.

This is where I admit I haven’t the slightest interest in the game of rugby. Early on I’d had my fill of a provincial culture where men played rugby and women watched while getting the savs and spuds ready in the clubrooms for after the match.

I don’t watch a game, but I check the outcome because it will have an impact on the behaviour of my colleagues, friends and family.

There is loads of research that shows the effect of a sporting result on a country.

When we win a game there is a release of testosterone and dopamine into our brains that makes us feel good. But more than that, identifying with the team and knowing that it is positively valued boosts our self-esteem.

A victory will lift the country’s mood and act positively on the economy, a loss increases domestic violence, and the government’s ratings go down. It seems incredible that a rugby loss would make you change your voting preference or actually beat someone. But it shows how, despite our growth, rugby is still embedded in our psyche.

So, expect some national mood swings as the ABs head to Japan for this year’s cup. Research before the 2011 Rugby World Cup showed half of New Zealanders felt winning was important to them personally.

And for the 40 plus per cent who said they would make no effort to follow it, just know that you can run from the coverage but you can’t hide from the effect it will have on those around you.