Ireland savour hard-fought win over world champions South Africa

They are there to be shot at now, but Ireland’s first assignment since they climbed to the top of the world rankings in the summer was negotiated successfully against the toughest opponents they will face this autumn. But, boy, this win over South Africa took its toll.

Both sides were brutal with each other, players going down and off right, left and centre. Conor Murray, on his 100th cap, was off after half an hour, limping off alongside Lood de Jager, who joined Stuart McCloskey already in the sanitorium, having been whistled up on the day after Robbie Henshaw’s hamstring injury.

In the end, the difference in class of the half-backs was the different, South Africa’s fly-half, Damien Willemse, struggling in particular. But Johnny Sexton, too, had to come off, nursing an injury through most of the second half.

Both sides opened up a bit after a horrible first-half to score two tries apiece, but Ireland were just that bit more composed. They turned round at 6-6. Sometimes score-lines can belie the matches they represent. Not this one.Tied up at six apiece conjures all the sorts of images that were rife in that first half. We knew this was not going to be pretty, that it would be suffocating, and that is just about the size of it.

One of rugby’s several flaws is its tendency to clam up the higher we climb the ladder – especially when it is teams like these two who reside up there. Ireland, top of the world rankings, against the world champions means intensity – and neither side has secured their position at the top without a willingness to smother. In fairness, there were attempts to play a bit, more token acknowledgements of another way, but they were snuffed out invariably by choreographed brutality.

Ireland were the