Days later, Fiji is still basking in the afterglow of their Drua's titanic upset win over the Crusaders.
Two separate 'pechicles' (private taxis) have had the Youtube highlights screening on a loop on the dashboard. My Drua cap elicits random high fives every 20 metres.
The locals are riding the wave of a high that is far from cresting.
After a tumultuous start to their Super Rugby Pacific tenure, the team's triumph was the watershed moment needed to announce themselves as a force to be reckoned, as well as forge a connection with fans that years of COVID-19 exile in Australia had prevented.
Their landmark victory over the perennial champions couldn't have been better scripted.
The sweaty soldout crowd of 12,000 felt closer to 52,000, when Eroni Sau - the aptly nicknamed 'Sledgehammer' - crossed to give the Drua the advantage with 15 minutes to play. You always sensed the Crusaders would put themselves back in a position to win, because that's what they do - and that's what they did.
When Fergus Burke blocked out the cacophony of noise begging him to miss his late sideline conversion with a coolheadedness that defied the sizzling temperatures, the collective belief at Churchill Park was only slightly dented.
The spilled restart. Penalty... dead in front, just 20m out.
An inexplicable miss from a similar range at the start of the contest meant nobody was making any assumptions.
A stranger's hand gripped my shoulder with a stress-induced clamminess. Over it sailed and the rest is Fijian rugby history.
The greatest Super Rugby upset ever.
This was the predictable sport's movie denouement - 46 years after Fiji shocked the sports world with their win over the British & Irish Lions at nearby Suva, but perhaps almost as impactful.
"That was everything," Drua assistant coach Glen Jackson told Newshub. "It's captured the island."
Sevens is - and, realistically, always will be - king here, but there's still more than enough love from this rugby-obsessed island to share with their XVs cousins, which was plain to see at Churchill Park.
The Crusaders had more than their fair share of support, with large pockets of red-and-black scattered underneath the sea of umbrellas on the embankment.
In fact, many entered the venue with mixed emotions, including Suva-born-and-raised rugby tragic Ioane, who confessed pre-match it would be a "hard day", due to his longtime love for the Crusaders - Fiji's unofficial second team.
As would've been the case with plenty of his compatriots, he was won over by his hometown heroes by the fulltime whistle.
"I don't know if there's enough words to describe how we feel as Fijian fans," he admitted, as hoardes of frothing supporters, clad in royal blue and teal, passed by.
"The fans out there were crazy. There were times I'd just sit in silence, and look at everyone and the emotions on their faces... amazing.
"That was one in a million. It's almost like Fiji beating the All Blacks - it's never happened, but now anything is possible, I think.
"If they keep playing like that, the fans will just keep on growing."
Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka - a rugby fanatic himself - was among the luminaries on hand, making his way down to the changingroom to deal out an enthusiastic round of congratulations after the match - as if morale needed any more of a boost.
The difference in the squad's attitude from their last one-sided outing against the Crusaders was stark, Jackson notes. This wasn't a team overwhelmed by the occasion nor simply there to make up the numbers.
"I was just proud of the boys," he added. "We lost by 60 points last time and I think most of the guys were simply in awe of playing the Crusaders, let alone believing they could win.
"To win like that was pretty Crusader-like."
In New Zealand, elite players essentially begin operating on a professional level when they enter their school 1st XV programmes, but a large chunk of the Drua hadn't stepped foot in a weightroom joining the squad - let alone adhering to a weight-training regime.
Two years of Super Rugby later, the benefits are starting to show, adds Jackson.
"These boys are straight from the island with no professional rugby. Last year, it showed, because just physically their bodies probably weren't up to it.
"Another year in the gym and you can see the change. Now they've got that win under their belt and even more belief that we deserve to be in this comp, and they can carry on putting on good performances."
Over the last two seasons, Fijian Drua have had the best-selling jersey of any Super Rugby Pacific side - a fact that speaks volumes about the way they've been embraced.
"I think it's made us crazier as a rugby nation, to be honest," Ioane insists. "You can see the way people are acting on the streets, they've gotten more passionate about it.
"I didn't think it'd be possible."
Now sitting pretty in fifth place, a quarter-final berth is a distinct possibility. With five more home games to come, rivals will scramble to avoid becoming the next victims of the stifling heat that's such an enormous advantage for the hosts.
"I think a few people will be looking at this fixture when they get it," said Crusaders coach Scott Robertson. "There’ll be a new respect for the Drua."
Newshub travelled to Fiji and attended the Super Rugby match courtesy of Tourism Fiji and Fiji Airways
