The 'Brave Blossoms' may not be the greatest nickname in sporting history but, when you do what the Japanese did to the Springboks at the weekend, you could call yourself the 'Soft, Uninspired Rose Petals' and it would still be all kinds of wonderful.
Irish fans love a good bandwagon and the Japanese defeat of South Africa is the kind of bandwagon that comes around once in a lifetime and by god are we jumping on it. To prove that, it may be most helpful to look at the number of jerseys that have been sold in the aftermath of Saturday's victory.
According to Lifestyle Sports, before Saturday, just ONE Brave Blossoms shirt had been sold across all their stores (and online shop) in Ireland. Fast forward three days and their entire stock is completely gone. There's not a single one left to be had ahead of Japan's clash with Scotland on Wednesday.
You may say that Lifestyle hardly would have been overstocked with the jerseys in the first place but it's worth noting that behind Ireland and the All Blacks, the Japan jersey has, practically overnight, shot up to become the third most popular jersey out of all 20 World Cup teams.
