Dunedin and every other provincial city provided the fun. Now the serious stuff - and by that we mean the very, very serious stuff - starts.
The World Cup has been a boon for this country. It's put a smile on faces after the darkness of the past year with the Pike River disaster and the Canterbury earthquakes.
But now the pool games are over, it's time to get down to business.
The country has done a superb job so far - though listening to talkback radio in Auckland yesterday you'd think the whole thing had been set up to pour scorn on Auckland Mayor Len Brown - but now it is crunch time as the quarterfinal weekend looms.
The business end of the tournament was always going to be in the Queen city, and once Christchurch was wiped out of the equation, Auckland did seem the logical fit for the two remaining quarterfinals.
There is merit in Dunedin hosting one quarterfinal, and that could be argued until the cows not only come home but are washed, shaved and put to bed, but the fact is Auckland is now the place where six of the eight remaining matches are to be played.
Does it feel like a home to host all these matches? Is there cup fever on every street corner? Is every car carrying a flag?There are plenty of people around, but there always are in Auckland, and there are lots of advertisements about the tournament, with tickets still up for sale.
But it is still a big city.
Anonymous people go around doing anonymous things. It is too big, too cosmopolitan for everyone to be interested in just one event.
However, the games are still a few days away and fans may still be out of town, checking out Huka Falls or doing a bungy jump somewhere.
Auckland, as will Wellington, will come alive in the next couple of days as the fans from the remaining nations start to roll into town.
But the mindset for All Black fans has definitely shifted. The scars from the past 20 years are starting to come through.
For the All Black rugby fan, when the pressure comes on and it really is a do-or-die match, the fun is over. The laughs and thrills of pool play are well and truly behind us. Well remembered but exactly that - a memory.
There is no time now for a bit of larrikinism, a bit of a joke.
Sure, people will still indulge but it is all about the result.
At this time it is so much more than "just a game".
This is where legends are made, the strong come through and the weak are exposed.
The All Blacks now have it laid in front of them. Three more games. Just over 240 minutes of rugby - less than a week of watching Coronation St next month - to win it all.
Can they do it? They have the potential and they have the players, but they've been down that road before.
We'll just have to wait and see. In another 17 days we'll know whether at the end of the All Black road is a pot of gold or a pile of sadness.