An extraordinary night for Irish rugby. Ireland have conquered New Zealand for the first time in history. The performance was as encouraging as the result and in the end, it was left to the man who orchestrated it all to try and put it all into context: "It is one window in one day, but we'll take it!" declared a delighted Joe Schmidt.
The victory was driven by a series of outstanding individuals who once again came up trumps for Irish rugby. Devin Toner, Peter O'Mahony, Jonathan Sexton all once again delivered in a green shirt.
However, elsewhere, it was left to Kieran Marmion and Luke McGrath to fill the considerable void left by Conor Murray and they did so admirably. The pair had just 30 combined caps but helped steer Ireland past the top team in the world. It was this that pleased Schmidt most when he spoke to RTE Sport after the game.
"What I was really proud of, Kieran Marmion and Luke McGrath, what a massive test for them!"
Schmidt went on to praise Josh van der Flier, who was called into the starting team late in the week.
"Josh Van der Flier got called in late for Dan Leavy. There were some great moments. I thought Josh just kept going and kept going, but it is hard to pull someone out of that group."
"I had visions of 2013 as they worked their way up the pitch" - Joe Schmidt reflects on the win #IRLNZL pic.twitter.com/BGKC4OGBk7
— RTÉ Rugby (@RTErugby) November 17, 2018
