Ireland must build on Springbok victory and add silverware: Sexton

Ireland captain Johnny Sexton said beating world champions South Africa on Saturday was "right up there" with other memorable victories but said he wants trophies to round off his career.

The 37-year-old flyhalf's penalty late in the second-half gave the Irish just enough breathing space to hold on and beat the Springboks 19-16 in a raucous Lansdowne Road.

The victory for the number one ranked side in the world comes on the back of the historic series win in New Zealand in July.

However, pleased as he was at beating the Springboks - who if they had a specialist kicker might have come away with a win - the 2018 world player of the year is desperate to round off his Test career on a high next year with some form of silverware.

"It is obviously right up there," said Sexton at the post match press conference.

"We did not play our best rugby but the very pleasing thing is maybe a couple of years ago we might have crumbled.

"We are building well but we want trophies. The Triple Crown last season was very pleasing but we are talking about a Six Nations Grand Slam and a World Cup.

"That is key as we have not done that yet and hopefully we are building towards that."

Sexton was one of several players in the current team that won the Six Nations Grand Slam in 2018 under Andy Farrell's predecessor as head coach, Joe Schmidt.

But the shine was gone a year later when Ireland bowed out of the World Cup at the quarter-final stage. They have a poor record at World Cups, never having even made a semi-final.

The next time South Africa and Ireland meet will be in next year's edition in France in the pool stage but Farrell was not going to fall into the trap of reading too much into Saturday's win.

"We are miles off it, there are so many things and