( CNN ) -- New Zealand woke up to a giant collective hangover Monday as the rugby-mad nation savored its triumph in the World Cup final in Auckland . No matter the 8-7 final win over France was more notable for perspiration than inspiration , the All Blacks had finally laid a 24-year-old hoodoo since their victory in the first-ever World Cup in New Zealand in 1987 . Despite being the No.1 ranked international team for most of the intervening years , success on the ultimate stage eluded successive All Blacks teams . The nadir perhaps was the failure of the 2007 team , who fell victim to an inspired French team in Cardiff in the quarterfinals . But also long in the memory were defeats in the 1995 final to South Africa and semifinal defeats in 1999 and 2003 . But Graham Henry 's men , badly missing the influence and the accurate boot of injured fly-half Dan Carter , held on for a one-point win in the lowest scoring final in the tournament 's history . Blog : Are formidable France owed an apology ? For four million New Zealanders , the manner of the victory mattered not a jot , a welcome diversion in a year which began with the Christchurch earthquake disaster and continued with a mining disaster and nasty oil spill in the Bay of Plenty . After the final at Eden Park , New Zealand were named team of the year in the International Rugby Board annual awards and Henry was coach of the year . Player of the year was the French captain Thierry Dusautoir , who did his best to spoil the All Blacks ' party with his second half try . On Monday , captain Richie McCaw his team paraded the William Webb Ellis Trophy through the streets of Auckland on an open top bus with an estimated crowd of 200,0000 in attendance . Similar celebrations are planned for Christchurch and Wellington on Tuesday and Wednesday .
A massive crowd in Auckland celebrates Rugby World Cup triumph . Similar celebrations planned for Christchurch and Wellington . New Zealand beat France 8-7 in Sunday 's final at Eden Park . Graham Henry named coach of year and New Zealand team of year by IRB .