THE FINAL WHISTLE had barely been sounded and Zombie was already blasting into the Parisian night sky.
This is becoming the sound of the World Cup and Ireland’s incredible fans are becoming the story of this World Cup.
When James Lowe said yesterday that he heard 60,000 Irish fans would be in Stade de France for tonight’s clash with Scotland, a few eyebrows were raised. It turns out that Lowe’s sources had actually underestimated the invasion.
In a crowd of nearly 79,000, it definitely looked like there were many more than 60,000 Irish. And as for Ireland’s win over South Africa two weekends ago, the Irish fans were very much part of this performance as Andy Farrell’s side beat the Scots 36-14 in impressive style.
They got to the stadium early and in force. Ireland’s players must have been stunned to see the sea of green when they came onto the pitch ahead of the game. The Irish fans were singing the Fields of Athenry just seconds in and they were rewarded with a try from Ireland after barely a minute.
The post-game scenes were astonishing too. No one was leaving. Zombie was followed by the Fields of Athenry, then The Wild Rover, and then Dirty Old Town. Ireland’s players went on their now-familiar lap of gratitude to thank the supporters.
All of this just magnified the feeling that Ireland are in the midst of something really special. Has there ever been such an invasion of one nation’s supporters at a Rugby World Cup as this tournament has witnessed with the Irish?
As they look towards a quarter-final against New Zealand next Saturday night, Ireland’s players believe this is their time to make history. The swell of sensational support behind them in France and back home in Ireland certainly adds to that confidence.
Speaking after the South Africa game, Ireland captain Johnny Sexton said he had never seen anything like the crowd at that match. Tonight was another level again.
“They went and proved me wrong,” said Sexton with a smile after tonight’s victory against the Scots.
“My brother text me about three hours before the game. He was down at the stadium already and he just said, ‘Wait until you see what it’s like.’ He wasn’t here last week, my other brother was here last week, but I took his word for it.
“The lads were talking, we have a Scottish physio who told me it would be a 50/50 crowd. I said, ‘We’ll see’.
“They give us some of the best days of our lives, and it’s important that we repay that with our performance and give them something to cheer about. We definitely did tonight. It’s all about next week now.
“Against South Africa, we knew we had two weeks to prepare but we’re focused already on next week.”
Ireland head coach Andy Farrell was also keen to underline how much the Irish support means to this squad.
He soaked in the atmosphere out on the pitch after his side’s win.
“My wife and me two girls were there, that’s why I was singing to them,” said Farrell. “I think it’s amazing, the songs at the end of the game, I love all that. We got a bit of stick, didn’t we, for walking around against South Africa, but we walk around and thank the fans after every game.
“It’s the least we can do when they turn up in their thousands like they’ve done. We play for them, we talk about it every week. I talked about it before the game today in the dressing room, it means more than what people think, 100%, and I know that France is buzzing with Irish people, but I believe it’s bonkers back home.
“We’re torn a bit, enjoying it with the fans back home or stay here? We’ll stay here for now. We know when we turn up for training on Monday that we’re not just doing it for ourselves.”
And that was the key message from both Farrell and Sexton. They are proud of lots of parts of the performance against Scotland, but they’ve already turned the page.
Now, it’s all about the All Blacks.
“We always knew most likely play France or New Zealand,” said Sexton. “There’s no easy option there and now we’ve got New Zealand, so it will be a very tough game.
“I see that they were talking about revenge already and stuff like that, so it will be a game they want and we need to be ready for it.”
Ireland travelled to New Zealand last year and won a series there for the first time ever. Indeed, Ireland have won five of the last eight games against the All Blacks, so it will be a spicy match-up.
“We went to New Zealand and Andy told us he’d put us under the most pressure he could find,” said Sexton.
“To go on a three-Test tour but also to do the midweek games, it was to test us and to make us learn and we learned so many lessons on that tour to take with us for the Six Nations, to win a Grand Slam, and it’s to put us in this situation to have to play them again.
“They’ve already said it’s one that they want and when they’re hurting and they want to put it right. That’s the biggest challenge in rugby, to try and beat them when they’re in that frame of mind.
“Two teams will both be under pressure for different reasons and it will be who copes with that the best and who can put their game out there on the biggest day when the pressure is on.”
