20 MINUTES BEFORE kick-off, we got the first rendition of The Fields of Athenry and though the music blasting over the stadium tannoy was loud, the Irish fans refused to be drowned out.
Once the action got underway on the pitch, it took just 46 seconds for the green army to go again. This time, The Fields was bellowed lustily into the Parisian night sky.
They never let up from there and, as has quickly become the norm, the Irish victory was greeted by The Cranberries’ Zombie as Andy Farrell’s players went on their lap around the pitch to thank the travelling support.
The Ireland squad had been blown away by the number of Irish at the World Cup wins over Romania and Tonga in Bordeaux and Nantes, respectively. The players spoke of how amazing it was to see and hear the relentless support on the ground in France.
It was on another level last night in Paris as a crowd of 78,542 packed into Stade de France. There was a huge horde of South Africa fans too but the Irish fans outnumbered them and outsang them. As with the last two weekends, this felt like a home game for Ireland. Andy Farrell’s men made it 16 wins in a row by beating the Springboks. Good things are happening on the pitch and there’s been something special about the atmosphere off it too.
“I’ve said that we’ve had some big days before in terms of results in the pool, but I’ve never, ever seen a crowd like that,” said captain Johnny Sexton post-match.
“Someone said there was 30,000 fans there, but there was no way it was 30,000. It wouldn’t surprise me if it was 60,000 and they were insane throughout and they gave us the lift that we needed.
“Honestly, it’s not lost on us. We talk about it a lot, about inspiring those people that put their hand in their pocket week after week.
“They probably saved for four years to come here and it is something we refer to all the time and I mean that. We play for them and they gave us the edge tonight, so fair play to them.”
Before the next question could be posed at the press conference following Ireland’s victory, head coach Farrell jumped in.
“It isn’t just them, it is the people back home as well,” said Farrell.
“We know that back home is being worked up into a frenzy, you know, and if that is a sign of things that we can get excited about going forward, then what a lift that’s going to give us.”
Farrell and Sexton were as steady as ever in their post-match chat, but there was a deserved edge of pride in their words.
On a night when the Irish lineout misfired badly in the first half, Ireland managed to stay composed and come through a rip-roaring battle with victory. They have a good habit of staying calm under intense pressure.
“Our resilience which has been really good of late anyway,” said Farrell when asked what had pleased him most about the wing.
“That was a proper game, a traditional game that had absolutely everything. There were ebbs and flows, ups and downs, and how we managed to stay on point mentally, I thought, was fantastic.
“The game was never going to be perfect. First half, I thought we had the rub of the green as far as field position is concerned and probably didn’t capitalise on that a little bit.
“But it was certainly roles reversed in the second half and how we kept our heads, getting those couple of penalties at the end when it really mattered is the big plus side of our performance.”
Farrell said that Ireland had somehow managed to avoid any new injuries in this brutal battle with the Boks. They have been lucky on this front so far in the World Cup.
The Ireland boss was delighted with the impact of his bench, which was discussed much less than the Springboks’ 7/1 bench during the build-up.
And while the questions came about a possible quarter-final against the All Blacks, Farrell and Sexton won’t go there publicly yet.
“I think we’ve had some big wins in pool stages before, that’s right up there,” said Sexton.
“When you play against the reigning world champions, it’s always going to be incredibly tough and it was. They didn’t let us down in terms of the physicality of the game but I thought we fronted up and gave some good stuff ourselves in that regard.
“Yeah, it’s right up there but we’ve got to make it count now. We’ve got some time off this week with the bye week, then we regroup and we’ve got to back it up against Scotland and make sure we do the business to get out of the pool.”