The country is waking up this morning in excited form.
Last night the two top ranked teams in the world went to war in Paris and it was Ireland who emerged victorious 13-8 after an epic struggle with South Africa.
What does it mean for our hopes of a first ever World Cup title? Well, we're likely to avoid in-form hosts France in the quarter-finals, and instead have a probable meeting with three-time champions New Zealand to look forward to.
The two times the teams met in the competition the All Blacks won by 24 points and 32 points respectively, but this time it feels a bit different, right?
Before all that, of course, we've Scotland in Paris to get over on Saturday week.
But back to last night, what was the international view of a low-scoring but highly enjoyable game at Saint Dennis?
Battle lost but War goes on
South African media was echoing the views of the Springboks head coach Jacques Nienaber, when he spoke after the game.
"The Springboks have lost a battle but the Rugby World Cup war is far from over following a night of epic drama in the seething cauldron of the sold-out Stade de France in Paris last night," Mike Greenaway wrote in the Independent Online.
"The Boks were far too charitable in their inability to cash in on their scoring opportunities," he continued before adding, "They [Ireland] ought to have scored much more [in the first half] but their conversion rate of opportunities was poor.
There was some solace for Greenaway as he concluded that, "The Boks will lick their wounds learn their lessons and take heart from the fact that in 2019 they lost a pool game before recovering to take the title."
Ross Roche, in the Citizen, lamented South Africa's poor conversion rate in the game.
"As has been a common theme over the past few years the Boks again created enough chances to win the match but couldn't convert them," he wrote.
"They made a number of 22m entries over the match but were only able to score one try through Cheslin Kolbe after a sublime skip pass from Manie Libbok."
He also warned that Ireland's poor lineout percentages might come back to haunt them in the knockout stages.
"In the end they missed six lineouts in total to only nail 12 of their 18 throw-ins and on another day that could prove the difference in winning and losing."
South Africa give France the blues
Moving to New Zealand, and Ireland's probable quarter-final opponents, the NZ Herald reported that, "Ireland have extended their test win streak to 16 and will likely top Pool B, thus probably avoiding host France in the quarter-finals and setting up a meeting with the three-time champions All Blacks.
"[They] notched a third straight win against the Springboks, while the Northern Hemisphere big guns made it 2-0 against the Southern Hemisphere so far at the Rugby World Cup."
Vincent Duluc, writing in host nation France's L'Equipe, hinted that the better team had lost and suggested that Les Bleus might have preferred to play their fellow Six Nations side in the last eight, rather than the defending champions.
"We will not say that it would have been better to play Ireland on 15 October... rather than the Boks who will probably not leave behind the eleven points they gave up on Saturday," Duluc proffered before adding, "we won't say it because we'll never know but we know people who already think [it] so strongly."
In the UK, Guardian writer Andy Bull praised the Irish support in the City of Lights, joking that, "judging by the turnout here, it must have been an awful quiet night in Dublin.
The kicking of Faf de Klerk and Manie Libbok came in for particular criticism as their four missed kicks cost the Springboks the victory.
"In a match as tight as this one, that was an even bigger handicap than Ireland's wobbly lineout, and it ended up the difference between the teams.
"[Handre] Pollard will be likely back for the rematch, if there is one later in the tournament. But by then Ireland, and their fans, will have something else going for them too: the belief they really can win this thing, at last."
