CJ Stander had us believing that the impossible was possible when we spoke to him on Thursday.
On Saturday, he backed up his words with mighty deeds at Soldier Field.
Stander delivered the a-typical Stander performance – big carries, bullocking opponents out of his way, winning turnovers, scragging big men to the ground, getting it emphatically done.
There were a few moments during that 40-29 victory where you really felt something special was about to happen – Stander’s try, Rob Kearney taking to the skies, Conor Murray’s penalty, the Simon Zebo score that made it 30-8.
For Stander, though, he was not taking victory, and history, for granted. SportsJOE asked the back-row when he could start enjoying the feeling of beating New Zealand and doing it in style. He told us:
“When Robbie Henshaw scored that last try.
“They scored a lot of points in those last 20 and we got back and got a try. I felt the maturity we showed as a team won us the game.”
Stander was full of praise for the role Murray had in forcing the five-metre scrum that Ireland scored a first-phase try off, through Henshaw, to clinch the win. He said:
“It shows you, if look at Murray’s games he is a physical man. He is big for a nine. That’s what makes him world class.
“To stop a guy [Julian Save] like that, he could have scored a 100 metre try, to stop him I think he saved our skins there.”
A lot of moving parts all coming together for one marvellous triumph.
Who are the winners of the much-coveted 2016 Wooly Awards? Find out in our GAA Hour Special
