'She thought I looked sick' - Hugo Keenan reveals nerves ahead of Boks battle

Hugo Keenan has admitted that nerves got to him in the week before Ireland's World Cup win over South Africa.

The fixture was made almost three years ago and by the time it came around it matched up the top two teams in the world; number one ranked Ireland against the defending champions.

While neither team could have been knocked out, the hype built steadily coming up to kick-off.

Between Rassie Erasmus's 7:1 bench split gamble and taking to the field without a recognised Test-match goal-kicker, and Ireland's 15-game winning run on the line, it lived up to its billing as a blockbuster, and turned into a ferocious contest that was as compelling as it was thrilling.

RTÉ's audience peaked at 1.4million as the game entered its edge-of-the-seat finale.

Asked how big it felt, the Leinster full-back said: "Probably the biggest wasn't it? It's been in the pipeline. God, I was nervous this week, I met my girlfriend briefly this morning and she thought I looked sick.

"I felt good once I got out there, it's a pressure environment.

"Stade de France hasn't been kind to us in the past, there's a pressure lurking that we were keen, personally and as a team, from that loss to France two years ago and learn from that.

"Jeez, that support was incredible. The Irish crowd are amazing, the numbers, the amount of people who made the effort to get over here and support us - it made some difference."

An original estimate of the expected Irish crowd came in at around 30,000 but the travelling Springboks supporters were vastly outnumbered among the 78,542 that eventually filled the St-Denis venue.

"You need to harness it at the right times and I think the forwards did," said the 27-year-old of the incredible noise made by the Irish fans.

"I'm sure South