Andrew Trimble sought the distraction of the golf course as he tried to deal with the kaleidoscope of images that refused to abate following a momentous and history making weekend in Chicago.
The Ireland right wing had his captain Rory Best for company as they teased out the sights and sounds of Ireland's first ever victory over New Zealand.
The performance, the atmosphere, the supporters, the magnitude of the achievement, the week preceding the game and how Chicago came to a standstill for the city’s beloved Cubs, all vied for primacy.
Perhaps a starting point is the heartbreaking 24-22 defeat at the Aviva Stadium in 2013 when Ireland had their pockets picked. Those demons would never be exorcised unless the team could withstand the white heat of the end-game, so when New Zealand reduced the deficit from 22 points to four on Saturday, it seemed the nightmare was about to be relived.
“It seemed like at one stage we were going to learn those hard lessons all over again,” Trimble admitted. “New Zealand reminded us of how good they are, how deep they dig, how talented they are and the sort of rugby they want to play.
“It is not easy in the slightest to get rid of those thoughts. It’s just so difficult to go out with a positive mindset and to believe that it’s possible to beat the All Blacks because hardly anybody does it.
“The All Blacks hammer everybody that they play, they’re class. People laugh at you if you say, ‘we’re going to go out and beat the All Blacks at the weekend’.
Little details
“It’s not something that just happens. You put a gameplan in place, look after all those little details and you know if you get all those things right – which is a big ask – then you might have a chance.
“We talked a lot during the week and an awful lot at half-time. We had to keep feeling positive, playing a style of rugby that suits us. When they scored early on, don’t get me wrong, that mentality is not perfect. There are doubts.
“They score after three minutes and you are wondering are you going under the cosh for the next 80 minutes. This could unravel here. But we showed that mental fortitude to step up and take ownership of the game.
“That is something we are very proud of. At half-time, everyone is thinking the same thing. This is going the same way it did before [2013]. It’s very tempting to pay that lip service, for it to be a cliché, keep positive, keep attacking them and keep going at them. But in the back of your mind you are going ‘Please, can we just hang in for 40 minutes?’
“We had a number of leaders who stood up and made crucial tactical decisions. Rory, Jonny [Sexton] and Conor [Murray] were brave. We went at them and called plays that were going to make us uncomfortable.
“Because if you get them wrong, you are under the cosh. But if you get them right . . . Simon puts that chip up the line at the end and puts us in a great position. We stood up and took the game to them.
“You put yourself in a difficult position but there are leaders out there with experience, showing leadership and making brave calls. And it paid off in the end.”
Shut up shop
The Irish players drew from their experiences in the summer too, namely losing those second and third Tests in South Africa. "When we got ahead in the second Test, maybe we didn't attack enough, maybe we tried to shut up shop, we tried to close them down and squeeze the game into a bit of an arm wrestle at the end.
“You can’t do that when you are playing the best teams in the world. You definitely can’t do that when you are playing the All Blacks. Maybe that is something that was a bit of a lesson for us.
“It would be a mistake to get carried away and think we’re better than we are. The only reason we were good enough to beat the All Blacks at the weekend was because we did everything, left no stone unturned, fully bought into the gameplan, looked into the set-piece, our shape, our breakdown. We did so much homework for the game.
“A lot of sides can produce a big one-off performance but if we are going to challenge ourselves to be one of the best teams around, then we have to back it up. All your energy just goes into one massive, big effort and you just fall flat on the floor exhausted knowing that you have achieved something special.
“To get up and go at it again, with the same amount of homework and train as hard and know the gameplan inside out like we did is a challenge. Realistically, as well, to go beyond that level, because New Zealand will perform better because they will be hurting.
“They are a very proud group of rugby players and they will be devastated. They will come with a massive backlash and we will have to meet and go beyond that.”
