Ireland have beaten the All Blacks.
For the first time ever, Ireland have beaten the All Blacks on their home turf. This is everything, this is Ireland.
He missed the game with a neck injury but Conor Murray threw every ball with Kieran Marmion, he ran every step with Jacob Stockdale, he pushed every push with Ireland.
He was sitting high in the Aviva Stadium stands and he was surrounded by giddy Irish supporters. The thing is, he was as giddy as every last one of them.
Emanating from Joe Schmidt and his military management, this Ireland team are a united bunch and the bond they’ve fostered over the last few years is an unbreakable one.
They’re teammates, they’re brothers and they’d die for one another out on that pitch. Conor Murray wasn’t allowed to throw his body on the line on Saturday night but this still means as much to him as if he’d been in the thick of it himself.
And by God didn’t those lads out there in his place stand tall and stand strong.
Kieran Marmion played like Conor Murray would have in a near faultless Landsdowne Road performance at number nine. Tadhg Furlong in front of him was swatting away New Zealand bodies like they were mere flies and Peter O’Mahony, what the hell are we supposed to say about Peter O’Mahony?
The man was so clearly out on his feet after about half an hour but he was still mind-bendingly catapulting his body into freakish positions that it definitely isn’t supposed to be in after 73 minutes of this game.
He wasn’t done there.
To a man, this Ireland team, this Ireland squad weren’t done there.
Porter came in, Henderson came in, Luke McGrath and others came in. They all did what O’Mahony had done and what we were so desperate for them to do.
They held onto win by 16-9.
The game-changing moment was this beautiful try from our very own try-scoring machine Jacob Stockdale.
Poor Jacob Stockdale is a bag of nerves after that earlier mistake https://t.co/S4xUIVmxVk #RTErugby #IREvNZ pic.twitter.com/RTDZTO0IWI
— RTÉ Rugby (@RTErugby) November 17, 2018
Conor Murray celebrated wildly, Ireland celebrated wildly. They’d beaten the All Blacks for the first time ever on home soil.
THEY'VE DONE IT!!!!! https://t.co/S4xUIVmxVk #RTErugby pic.twitter.com/ESgCA6UX6K
— RTÉ Rugby (@RTErugby) November 17, 2018
That’s what it means.
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