Ireland is celebrating after beating New Zealand for the first time, with Irish media triumphant and fans ebullient on social media.
"History in Chicago. The long wait is over." That is how the Irish Independent reported the win, splashing the result large on its website.
Read RNZ's commentary as it happened
The Independent's Irish website celebrated with a triumphant banner. Photo: www.independent.ie
"Ireland's class of 2016 stamped their names into the history books as Joe Schmidt's side dispatched New Zealand 40-29 in Chicago," wrote the Irish Times just after the win.
The ABs themselves were gracious in defeat.
Congratulations to @IrishRugby for a great victory! See you in Dublin in two weeks.#NZLvIRE #TeamAllBlacks pic.twitter.com/weMxkjEyVp
— All Blacks (@AllBlacks) November 5, 2016
FT | History for @IrishRugby as they beat the #AllBlacks for the first time.#NZLvIRE pic.twitter.com/CGBjHVHmUI
— All Blacks (@AllBlacks) November 5, 2016
And the mood back in Ireland itself was clearly riotous.
They did it #WIN #IREvNZL #MFCUSA @IRFURugby @AllBlacks pic.twitter.com/Va001Sm6av
— Monkstown FC (@MonkstownFC) November 5, 2016
Irish fans at a Wellington pub were in an understandably celebratory mood after the match.
The barman at JJ Murphy's Irish pub, Sean Fox, was at the Aviva Stadium in 2013 when the Irish lost to the All Blacks by a single point through a last-gasp Aaron Cruden conversion.
He says today's game was incredible, 100 years in the making.
Sean Fox, who owns JJ Murphy's Irish pub in central Wellington, was ecstatic about the Irish victory. Photo: RNZ / Emile Donovan
"Amazing, ecstatic, I can't believe it, I'm so happy. I'm glad I'm here to see the lovely All Blacks walk out of the pub today with their heads bowed down and the Irish held up."
"Even if we win the World Cup I'm more excited that we just beat the All Blacks."
Owner of Auckland's Munster Inn, Fan Hanrahan, said about 300 Kiwi and Irish supporters turned up for the game and an Irish brekky.
Munster Inn owner Fan Hanrahan (in red) said there were plenty of fans there to watch the match. Photo: RNZ / Eva Corlett
These guys arrived in NZ this week, bringing their jerseys (and Irish luck!?) with them. #IREvNZL pic.twitter.com/Cjgcn9fGEn
— Eva Corlett (@EvaCorlett) November 5, 2016
Many in the twittersphere both from New Zealand and internationally were excited by an underdog win, and took the historic side of the victory to heart.
Everyone loves a good underdog win! Even against themselves. (If they're not dead inside.) #NZLvIRE
— Heavy D and the Boyz (@dimsie) November 5, 2016
So. What up all those fans who thought we'd never lose? Amazing game, and the guys will build from this. Nothing is guaranteed on the field.
— Lizzie Marvelly (@LizzieMarvelly) November 5, 2016
Xjdjdosjnajshehebdbshsjdhchxnslapehdvzjsjdjskwkdhsjsks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
— Rory McIlroy (@McIlroyRory) November 5, 2016
I wanna believe that @IrishRugby haven't tweeted anything yet cos they're already out celebrating & getting stuck in the guinness #NZLvIRE
— Ida (@_idarima) November 5, 2016
@CMRanapia you don't follow enough sports fans. My timeline is filled with people congratulating Ireland
— Hadyn Green (@hadyngreen) November 5, 2016
Cannot believe that just happened .. congratulations Ireland . What a performance! Been a long time coming . ☘️☘️☘️
— Niall Horan (@NiallOfficial) November 5, 2016
However, there were a minority perhaps disappointed by the performance from the All Blacks, who had just had their world-record winning spree broken.
So basically if you have 100yr+ winning drought, you want to be playing in or around Chicago right now... @Cubs #NZLvIRE @IrishRugby
— Malcolm Phillipps (@phillipps_m) November 5, 2016
What a shocker. Go to the US for PR purposes more than anything . Make no headlines. Lose game and throw away multiple records. #NZLvIRL
— Sudhvir Singh (@sudhvir) November 5, 2016
Media back in Aotearoa certainly seemed to take a more critical approach.
Stuff.co.nz published headlines including "ABS: Rated - Who played well and who didn't", "Ireland stun All Blacks" in its prime spots.
NZherald.co.nz was more focused on the win, with "Magnificent men in green: Ireland make history", though immediately below that was "The All Blacks have fallen".
Just a day before, the Independent's Ruaidhri O'Connor, who was at the match itself, published a preview article pointing out that although it has been a long time coming, there have been some close calls.
"In their last three games, though, Ireland have been close twice. They were denied at the death by a Dan Carter drop-goal in Christchurch in 2012, while Ryan Crotty's try and Aaron Cruden's conversion at the Aviva Stadium a year later is still a fresh wound."
He was well aware of the possibility of a win, and critical of the Kiwi public's approach.
"A 1973 draw aside, this has been a one-way relationship."
"So, it is no surprise that, while Steve Hansen and his players are taking Joe Schmidt's side seriously, the rest of New Zealand have little regard for Ireland."
At any rate, there's no questioning history has been made.
