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The classic All Blacks and Wallabies after a charity match for Christchurch - Source: ONE News
It's been a good night.
The sort of night when you see something good come from something bad.
The bad being the Christchurch earthquake. The good, what people are willing to do to help out.
I've just left the Ballymore Rugby ground in Brisbane where something remarkable unfolded. Fifty rugby players, 100 plus volunteers and 20,000 fans have just raised more than 500k for the Christchurch earthquake relief fund.
Remarkable really, when just under two weeks ago, the idea of organising a charity match between past All Blacks and Wallabies was just that, an idea floating around in former Wallaby Greg Martin's head.
But Martin put call went out and the troops rallied.
They came from all over NZ and Australia.
Christchurch locals Reuben Thorne, Justin Marshall, Scott Robertson and many more past All Blacks, to take on Wallaby greats, David Campese, George Gregan, Tim Horan and co.
Before the 'Classics' had even walked on the paddock, ticket sales and sponsorship already injected about half a million dollars into the kitty.
And the people of Brisbane dug even deeper again, raising another 20k from donation buckets at the gates.
Scott Robertson told me during a sideline interview that he had goose bumps looking around the packed stadium.
Reuben Thorne was humbled by a Christchurch expat who handed him two small plastic bags of coins she had collected. After she'd left, I sat on the bench next to Reuben.
The bloke was clearly touched. During the All Blacks' thank you/victory lap, an emotional Justin Marshall opened up and said he'll never forget this night.
A night when Brisbane, despite reeling from recent natural disasters of its own, sent a message to Christchurch residents that they are not alone.
And in true All Blacks style, they said 'thank you' in the best way possible, a passionate post match haka.
Yes, it's been a good night.
Read more Steve Marshall opinion.
