“One of the greatest atmospheres I have ever played in, if not the best.” So said Conor Murray who has played in a few cauldrons in his time.

“It’s a Pool B match that could easily be as tight as a facelift,” said the commentator on the World Rugby feed, the highlights reel is also below.

The touchline reviews of Irish Rugby performances have not been possible to create in the more restricted media environment of the Rugby World Cup but the team behind the team have still been on top of their game producing ‘Inside the Camp’ material that has put the fans right into the heart of the group, taking the place that would traditionally have been the exclusive preserve of rugby correspondents and other media.

Saturday night’s game in the Stade de France was brought to life by an estimated 30,000 fans in the ground that had travelled from Ireland or were of Irish hue and every neutral in the ground was probably singing the Fields of Athenry by the end as well.

The South African fans added to the colour and the atmosphere just as their players made it a game to remember, not so much for the free flowing rugby that has been evident in other games at France 2023 but for the savage intensity of every phase of play, every tackle and every moment of tension.

It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that this pairing could be repeated at the end of next month in a World Cup Final for the ages. Then again Scotland might have a thing or two to say about that and France and New Zealand will have had longer to recover from their own clash of the Titans before stepping up against the two to emerge from this attritional group.

RTÉ and Virgin Media have been and will continue to play tag on Ireland’s games and will continue to deliver numbers of viewers that will have commercial partners beaming almost as much as James Lowe was in the celebrations after Saturday night’s game.