When Prince Harry took to the stage at Twickenham during Friday night’s opening ceremony he guaranteed, with all the hyperbole of promotion, that “there will be moments in this World Cup which will live with us for the rest of our lives”.

Citing cornerstone’s of Rugby World Cup folklore - Nelson Mandela’s historic presentation of the William Webb Ellis trophy to Francois Pienaar in 1995, and Jonny Wilkinson’s drop goal in the 2003 final - the prince presumably wasn’t predicting any deposits into the collective sporting memory bank just yet - we could comfortably expect to be waiting a couple of weeks, at least.

And yet, day two and here we are - Japan have pulled off what is arguably the greatest shock in Rugby World Cup history, with a genuinely thrilling 34-32 win over South Africa in their opening Pool B game at Brighton Community Stadium.

But it wasn’t just the result. This was no typical underdog’s upset - it was something far more. There was no last stand. No miraculous resistance with Japanese bodies splayed along their own whitewash. Japan didn’t just play with the belief they were equal to the two time world champions, they chased victory with a barely believable zeal in the closing moments.

A pulsating game swung back and forth before reaching an apex of dramatic tension as the underdogs were offered the draw with a penalty under the posts at the end, and somehow refused it, choosing instead to keep the whole eye-bulging, head-spinning spectacle rolling on for another few moments, before finally ending with an 84th minute try.

Like the best of sporting upsets the game had the unifying effect of getting everyone watching - bar the defeated favourites - whipped up into a frenzy at the barely believable spectacle, and that joy was evident on Twitter as admiration for Japan’s effort spilled forth.

Here we’ve gathered some of the best tweets following the game.