James Lowe on what was going through his head before his try-saving tackle

“Every debut for a new team is always very, very special. You don’t get to play against New Zealand very often… It’s up there. There were a few key moments that determined the outcome of the game. I’ll cherish the win.”

Lowe believes that this Ireland team are growing and improving with each game under Andy Farrell. Having graduated from assistant to head coach after Joe Schmidt moved on, Farrell lost five of his first 11 Test matches but his side are now on a seven-game winning streak.

“We are not going to take a backwards step now,” said Lowe. “The amount of trust that we have throughout this team, the boys performing at the highest level, we can’t take a backward step. Next week will be a whole new ball game and I cannot wait for it.”

The best moment of the entire game – highlighted in this piece – for Lowe was an all-or-nothing tackle on Rieko Ioane that prevented a certain try, before Peter O’Mahony poached for a turnover penalty that sealed victory.

“Mate,” James Lowe reflected, “it was huge”

“I saw we were in trouble,” Lowe began as he was asked for his thought process regarding the Ioane tackle.

The All Blacks centre had two men on his outside and only Hugo Keenan was at home. Had Lowe not made the tackle, it was a certain try for the Kiwis. The 29-year-old recalled:

“I thought, ‘Shit, we are under the pump here’. And then I just tried to anticipate where I thought the ball was going to be, get myself in a better position, make the tackle, was able to wrap and then Peter O’Mahony, that’s who I think missed the first tackle [on Ardie Savea] got the turnover.

“Mate, it was huge. What you bollixes always get on to me about I’ve been working on the for the last six months. Hopefully you can abuse me for something else. “

Asked if the tackle was better than his first half try, Lowe said, “100%”

“That’s what I told you I’d been working on, to be able to show it on the biggest stage – [80] minutes of rugby, that’s what it’s about.”

‘Shit, that’s not the Ireland of old, the box-kick Ireland’

Following the game, James Lowe caught up with several of the All Blacks players that he knew from his time playing footy in New Zealand.

“I spent a lot of time with a lot of those boys,” he said. “Some of my best friends, people I’ve lived with – guys I seriously admire in terms of who they are as people, what they represent – I’ve got to stand there and have a good old chinwag with a lot of the boys.

“It’s a game of rugby at the end of the day. We’re best mates, I’ve got best mates on both side of the fence. They were happy for me, I was happy for them but it’s rugby at the end of the day. “

Lowe paid tribute to the “electric” atmosphere and said he had never played in a game as raucous or intense as that. He was also delighted with the style of Irish game that did for the All Blacks.

“We played footy and won. We didn’t play negative footy… We’ve got our own identity and it’s great.” He added:

“We’re playing the way rugby should be played. Tight shapes, connections out the back, boys wanting to be on the front foot, boys wanting to catch the ball on the line, a little bit of footwork, get the hands free. To play against the best team, the way they probably play the game and to beat them at their own game in a lot of ways, it’s huge for the confidence

“I feel like people will be now like, ‘Shit, that’s not the Ireland of old, the box-kick Ireland’. It’s playing off the cuff, pretty tight shapes, make defenders make decisions. It’s huge and it’s what we want to carry on doing.”