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Rugby

06th Nov 2016

Joe Schmidt had some even better news for his players after their monumental victory

Keeps getting better

Patrick McCarry

The Irish lads are on the tear and the session may well spill into Sunday.

For the couple of you that may have missed it, Ireland beat the All Blacks 40-29 in Chicago last night.

Yep. That happened.

Joe Schmidt nearly did his country in back in 2013 but his Irish boys got the job done at Soldier Field. Unsurprisingly, then, Schmidt was in top form at the post-match press briefing.

Joined by Irish captain Rory Best, Schmidt cracked a few jokes and he had some good news for his travelling squad.

First up, Best was asked if he had actually taken a moment to truly soak in the enormity of what had just happened. He replied:

“You’ve got to take a moment every time you make history. Knowing Joe, it will probably be a brief moment…

“It is a massive thing for us and it’s a massive mark of the respect to the All Blacks because it means so much to us because they are such a quality side.”

Rory Best celebrates winning with his children Ben and Penny 5/11/2016

Schmidt then remarked that he was regretting a vow he made to his players earlier in the week. He said:

“I think I actually said something inadvertently during the week like, ‘Well if you win here, I don’t really care too much about what you do the rest of the series’, so I’ve probably put my foot in it there.

“Besty being the stickler he is will probably reminding me about that all night and on the flight home where there’s an alcohol ban, which will probably be lifted as soon as the boys sit down.”

We would not be at all surprised if the Irish lads were cracking open beers in the dressing room as their coach spoke with the media. Jack McGrath was certainly on it.

“I’m probably not going to obey the alcohol ban myself,” Schmidt added.

It seems the players were gearing up for a big night.

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