There are times where you just have to enjoy the great sides to sport - and one of those times came at the Aviva on Saturday, according to Irish legend Keith Wood.
Keith joined Matt Williams on Wednesday Night Rugby to discuss Ireland's 16-9 victory over the All Blacks, and was keen to head off the naysayers that have emerged to temper feelings after the historic win last weekend.
"I think we are entitled to go mad and lose the run of ourselves entirely - I don't think the team are.
I also think that we have to celebrate the fact that we did what we have never done before.
I don't think there is anything wrong in, a few days afterwards, still feeling a bit of a warm glow in the fact that Ireland have fully delivered and beaten the All Blacks twice in a few years, having never done it in our history."
Keith was in philosophical form on both rugby and life:
One of the elements of the journey - and every part of sport is a journey, life too, mind you - is you have to enjoy and celebrate the successes along the way.
If you just say 'Yeah, let's push it aside, let's not enjoy that' - I think you're missing out on some of it.
I do feel that for us, you are dead right that we should lose the run of ourselves. Saturday was a reason to lose the run of yourself."
However, Keith was cautious to temper the prevailing feelings around the squad in the longer-term, particularly as we enter an important Spring calendar with the Six Nations.
"There was another comment from Joe Schmidt that this is just a day, a moment in time when these things have aligned and Ireland have been able to go and do it.
It doesn't lead on to say that if at some stage in the Six Nations we become the top team in the world [...] we're then guaranteed to go and win the World Cup. Obviously, that's rubbish.
We have set a standard that is pretty damn impressive, and the onus on us is to try and make certain that we set that standard and improve it every time we play. And it won't happen all the time.
This is a one-off game. And for that one-off game it is phenomenal, and just a joy to be an Irish rugby fan."
