After the jubilation following the final whistle, focus quickly turned towards the team's next fixture against the hosts, Canada, tomorrow.
Both Brittany Hogan and Fiona Tuite start once again, representing Ulster in the Irish matchday squad.
On a down day before the team crank up their prep, Brittany, told Ulster Rugby about her reflections on a landmark moment for Irish women's rugby.
Brittany, how are you feeling after that moment of history?!
I am feeling absolutely over the moon. I’m so happy that we achieved our goals for that game. It probably won’t sink in for a few weeks as we have such a short turnaround before Canada so we had to be next job focused but I am so delighted.
How were the celebrations and did it sink after the final whistle?
No it didn’t to be honest. We just all shouted and cried and enjoyed the moment together. When we went into the changing room we enjoyed some music and singing and then back to the hotel for some time with our families and friends. It took a while to get to sleep afterwards!
What does it mean to the team?
It proves to us that we are well capable to compete against the world's best and that we deserve to be where we are. We were completely written off before that game but we all stuck together and showed a glimpse of our ability. It’s really exciting for our future.
Did you guys feel confident in your ability to challenge the Black Ferns?
We were obviously aware of the challenging task we had ahead. We were playing the world champions and number 2 ranked team in the world. But we had trust in how we had prepared and trust in the team around us to get the job done. We didn’t doubt ourselves during the game and never switched off.
In such a tight match, what got you over the line?
We worked moment to moment. We all tried our best to win our individual battles and we were brave whilst doing it. We never panicked whenever we were tied with New Zealand or when they were ahead, we played where we wanted to play on the pitch.
It was such an intense game to watch, how did you find it playing?
The first 5 minutes were a shock to the system, we just hung on with all we could before we gathered the pace and settled into the game.
It was incredibly physical and it took a few days to recover from that side of it. But we settled then and tried to play at a tempo that we had trained at. We were well prepared for the game.
Can this result be a springboard for the rest of the tournament and the future?
Yes definitely. We won’t get ahead of ourselves in the tournament. We know that every game is a new opportunity and that we will just keep gaining respect from other countries and teams we play against.
We pride ourselves on being incredibly difficult to play against, we will never stop fighting and experiences like last weekend just builds our mental side of the game which will definitely stand to us in the future.
Ireland's second WXV1 fixture in Vancouver is against the hosts, Canada, at Langley Events Centre with KO at 3.45pm local time/11.45pm Irish time).
The match can be watched live on RugbyPass TV.