Pat Richards hailed Ireland's shock World Cup victory over Samoa as one of the highlights of his career.
Richards scored a hat-trick of tries in a 22-point personal haul as the Emerald Isle overcame the highly-fancied Pacific Island 34-16 on Wednesday morning (GMT).
Ireland's reward is a semi-final qualifier against Fiji on the Gold Coast on Monday – with the Australians lying in wait for the winners.
And Warriors favourite Richards (above) ranked the victory alongside Wests Tigers' 2005 NRL triumph, in which he scored one of the greatest ever Grand Final tries.
"It's right up there," said man of the match Richards, whose parents emigrated from Dublin before he was born.
"This is very, very special, especially having my family here.
"We believed in each other and we've got some great players in our team. They don't really get recognised but I'm sure they will after this."
Asked about the prospect of playing against Australia in a semi-final, Richards smiled: "It would be pretty good. We've got a big effort on Monday, but with the spirit in this team I'm sure we will be up for it. I can't wait."
Monday's game against Fiji kicks off at 8.55am GMT. Samoa, featuring Wigan pair Harrison Hansen and George Carmont, will face France on Sunday morning (6.25am) in a contest to decide who finishes the tournament with the wooden spoon.
Tonga and Scotland clash on Saturday (6am) to decide who will finish ranked seventh and eighth, ahead of England's match against New Zealand (8.55am) which is likely to feature Wigan's Gareth Hock and Micky Higham for England, as well as Thomas Leuluai for the Kiwis.
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Good luck Ireland looking forward to this match more than the England game