Not perfect but more than good enough.
Andy Farrell hailed his history-making players as the New Zealand away hoodoo came to a shuddering halt in the form of an emphatic 23-12 Ireland victory.
"It's a privilege to be here and witness what we just witnessed with the boys going toe-to-toe and being so courageous from minute one," the head coach told RTÉ Sport.
"We know that the All Blacks traditionally come out better in game two, especially here under the roof and we were as courageous as we were last week.
"We came out of the blocks quick and put them under some pressure and scored some tries."
Ireland led from the start with two tries from Andrew Porter and 13 points from the boot of Johnny Sexton getting the job done.
New Zealand, who had to play with 14 men for most of the game following a red card for Angus Ta'avao, scored their tries at the end of both halves but they were mere consolations.
"The game wasn’t perfect but we were calm, we didn’t get sucked into the allure of the game," added Farrell.
"Them going down to 14 or 13 men, we kept playing the game that was in front of us.
"Again, it wasn’t perfect, we gave a few penalties away and gave them access but we stayed calm and stayed in the fight. We were the ones who played for 80 minutes this week.
Having beaten the Kiwis three times previously, this was the first victory in New Zealand and Farrell said he always had confidence the team could turn around the 42-19 first Test defeat.
"It is [a big achievement] and we are aware of it and we talk about it to back up that feeling and go after it is another thing, but it shows the courage of the team," said Farrell.
"[Our character is] never in doubt. With these boys all they want to do is inspire the people back home.
"They come over here and know that there is a piece of history for them in their careers. We talk about it to them, 'somebody's going to do it sometime soon and it might as well be you’.
"They keep turning up and breaking their little records and I’m so proud of them. They’ve earned the right for next week to go into a decider.
"More importantly we are over here on this tour putting people under pressure with a big squad and a big turnaround and two games against the Maori to give people a chance to try and grow the squad for next year.
"Tuesday night for us against the Maori is just as important for us as this one."
