Proud yet understated, Joe Schmidt was in no mood to gloat after masterminding another famous win over the All Blacks. Rather, he instead pulled out his best defensive fend to downplay the World Cup favourites tag swiftly bestowed on Ireland.
Having beaten the All Blacks twice in their last three encounters, Ireland's stocks are rapidly rising.
So, too, is Schmidt's ticket as his men, Six Nations champions, continue to firm as a serious threat for the Webb Ellis crown in Japan next year.
Not that Schmidt was having a bar of such suggestions, which naturally come after knocking over the world's best.
"The World Cup in 11 months' time? People will postulate about who is where and who is favourite. It's a nebulous thing for us because all we can tangibly control is our preparation and then go out searching for a performance," Schmidt said after the 16-9 victory, Ireland's first at home over the All Blacks.
New Zealand and Ireland players react after the match. Photo / AP
"For us to be favourites when they've been the world No 1 for nine years and continue to be the world No 1 team… look, we were at home. They were on the back of a long series of games where they've travelled around the world a number of times.
"I thought the crowd was phenomenal tonight. That's a lot of things stacked in our favour. We'll take tonight and leave 11 months for 11 months' time."
Schmidt was quick to deflect praise and laud others; notably the team around him including defence coach Andy Farrell, whose defensive system has now held the All Blacks tryless twice, and controlling playmaker Johnny Sexton.
But it should be clear to all that the lineout set move which created the only try, finished by Jacob Stockdale, of the absorbing test in Dublin was another example of Schmidt's creativity.
"I mostly steal them from other people," Schmidt said. "I'm always on the lookout. I watch the Mitre 10 Cup and they've always got a couple of good ones. I showed a Highlanders play to the coaches recently and said 'we could maybe do this'.
"It's hard to get patience on moves.
"We felt we could go back down that short side. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't but it is nice when you do put them together. It's nice when everyone knows their role and they come off.
Jack Goodhue at the end of the match. Photo / AP
"The other coaching staff comes up with some. I come up with some incredibly poor moves in my time. They looked really good on paper though."
Schmidt's humble addresses continued as he pinpointed instances where Ireland's scrambling defence somehow stopped the All Blacks from scoring.
From Rob Kearney grabbing Beauden Barrett's offload to Peter O'Mahony appearing from nowhere to latch on to a grubber seemingly destined for Ben Smith, men in green sprung from everywhere.
"Kieran Read, how many times would you see him knock that charge-down on? There was no-one in front of him. Maybe we got a bit lucky a few times.
"You've got to be proud about the way the guys scrambled but, at the same time, realistic about three pretty clear-cut chances that they didn't take.
"The way it was built up as one v two, it was a heavyweight contest. It was an incredibly collected hard-earned win."
As for any conflicting thoughts as a New Zealander defeating his countrymen once again, not on this occasion.
"I'm 100 per cent an All Blacks supporter when they're playing anyone but us just because that's where the roots were. But I work with a committed bunch of men who go out and earn what they get so there's no real mixed emotion about that because they're the people I'm close to and they're the people I see working so hard to achieve what they do.
"It does make it a little bit more complicated in this game, particularly for me, but I'm incredibly proud of the group of Irish players who did what they did tonight."
