Ireland flanker Van der Flier wary of South Africa's 'physical DNA'

Ireland head into their crunch Pool B match against South Africa on Saturday with one eye on what flanker Josh van der Flier calls the physical DNA of the defending world champions.

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The two sides, who have both won their opening two matches, lock horns at a sold-out Stade de France, knowing that victory is likely, although not certain, to give them top spot in the group and a likely quarter-final against New Zealand rather than hosts France.

"It's definitely going to be a very physical challenge," Van der Flier told a press conference at the Stade on Friday.

"It's something we have become used to from any South African team. That's part of their rugby DNA.

"But rugby is a physical game and every game has a lot of physicality to it. We know we have to be at our best in that area."

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Van der Flier, the World Player of the Year in 2022, added that there is more to the Springbok side than brute force.

"They're very smart, they come up with some good plays as well. We need physicality but also a good all-round performance in every area."

The match marks a massive step up for Ireland whose two previous matches were cruise-control wins over Romania (82-8) and Tonga (59-16) with forwards coach Paul O'Connell saying it will take "a big performance" to beat the Boks.

"They're an excellent side. They've been together a long time as a group, together a long time as a coaching group as well and they obviously understand how they want to play and how they want to deal with certain situations in the game," said the former Ireland captain.

O'Connell believes the present Springbok team is a better model than the one