On Saturday morning just before 11:00, my phone beeped. "Japan is beating Ireland!" read the text message. "Eh, these guys have too much time for jokes," I thought to myself.

I rang my son, who is in Ireland. "I can't talk now, Japan is beating Ireland!" he shouted into the phone. In the background, I could hear exasperated swearing by Irish supporters in a pub. At this point I decided to find a TV. And there it was… Japan 19, Ireland 12.

For those of you who don't know much about rugby, this was like me beating Serena Williams at a game of tennis. OK, not quite the same – but you get the picture.

Needless to say, the fairly reserved Japanese nation went ballistic – and I mean ballistic! The Irish, not so much. Although typical of the Irish sense of humour, within five minutes I received a meme: "What do Irish rugby and the Titanic have in common? They both went down 1912."