Rob Kearney emerged from the Ireland dressing room with a slice of pizza in each hand. He finished the one in his right before placing the order down and asking someone to keep an eye on it.
He then approached the 12 reporters that huddled together on the other side of the barrier and delivered one of the best post-match interviews in recent rugby history.
Recorders and cameras switched off, Kearney turned back and saluted us with his remaining pizza slice before heading to the team bus. It was one of those nights.
Andrew Trimble sits back and smiles when the day, the game, and the post-match scenes are brought up. It was Test cap 67 out of the 70 he has earned so far and definitely the most memorable.
In Soldier Field that day, November 5th 2016, Ireland defeated the mighty All Blacks 40-29. It was the first time in their history that they had ever achieved the feat and, in scoring five tries and running hard from minute one to minute 81, they had done it in style.
Trimble’s numbers from that game. Decent but hardly earth-shattering. He made six successful tackles in the game but many of them were absolutely crucial. He was left one-on-one with lethal winger Julian Savea on a couple of occasions but stopped ‘The Bus’.
He then delivered resounding thwacks on Beauden Barrett and blindside Liam Squire to force turnovers and give his team a jolt as the Kiwis fought back in the second half.
On The Hard Yards, Trimble brilliantly and evocatively described the dressing room scenes after the game.
“That game in particular, it was the strangest feeling I’ve experienced after a game.
“I just remember looking around and the boys walking around just shaking their heads. No-one saying anything, just thinking, ‘What have we just done?’
“That was incredible, to be part of that. It was just trying your best… it’s never really possible but just trying to savour every, single moment. Even walking around the pitch before we got to the dressing room. Just enjoy every second of that; drink it in and be a part of it. Be in the moment.
“And then it’s gone. It’s such a shame that you can’t be in that moment forever but you will always have those memories and being a part of that day was so very, very special. It meant a lot to me to be part of it and to share that experience with a lot of the lads. That was an incredible day and I loved it.”
Powerful stuff and those words still resonate with anyone that watched that historic game unfold or, better still, played a part in it, no matter how minor.
Trimble helped Ireland to wins over Australia and France after that but he is hoping that a good run of games for Ulster can get im back in the Ireland squad in 2018.
There are more special moments to make, and savour.
You can check out the full interview with Andrew Trimble from 41:00 below.
