IT DOESN’T GET much bigger than this. That’s been the feeling around the Ireland camp for the last week or so, and the message the players and coaches have put out across their various media duties.

A packed Aviva Stadium for a Saturday evening kick-off against the Springboks, who come to Dublin for the first time in five years. A chance for the team ranked the best in the world to prove that billing against the reigning world champions.

Andy Farrell has told his players to ‘embrace’ their number one ranking, a tag which weighed heavily on Joe Schmidt’s squad ahead of the 2019 World Cup. Speaking after yesterday’s Captain’s Run at Aviva Stadium, forwards coach Paul O’Connell downplayed the significance of being the team ranked top of the tree. 

“I don’t know if we’ve spoken about it but I think the lads enjoy it,” O’Connell said.

“Andy always laughs about the bookies or who is the favourite, and he’ll say ‘thanks very much, that’s great but it’s not going to help us win the game’.

I don’t think it’s something we’re embracing or it’s something we’re not embracing. It is what is, it would be handy to be number one in the world when the World Cup draw happens, apart from that it doesn’t make much of a difference.

“But it is a nice reflection for how hard the players work, I think. Everyone in rugby now trains unbelievably hard, works unbelievably hard. These guys work very smart as well. They work very hard at making the team, guys who come in and are part of the team work really hard at being a team.

“We play the game a certain way that challenges them, they work incredibly hard at figuring that out. So I think for players to get to number one in the world on the back of some of that smart work is great for them but it’s not something we spoke about trying to retain that over the autumn.”

Today’s opening Autumn Nations Series fixture is an intriguing challenge for O’Connell too as Ireland’s forwards coach, with the Irish pack set to go up against the standard bearers in world rugby when it comes to the power side of the game.

It will be the biggest test yet for a pack which have been transformed under O’Connell, who joined Farrell’s coaching staff in early 2021. Under the former Munster lock, Ireland’s setpiece work has notably improved while the breakdown has become a real area of strength.

O'Connell during yesterday's Captain's Run at Aviva Stadium. Billy Stickland / INPHO Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO

O’Connell said Ireland didn’t consider matching South Africa in opting for a 6:2 split on the bench today, but feels the Irish pack will relish the opportunity to test themselves against the physicality of the Springboks.

“Every game for us is an opportunity to learn and get better, every week we have two good packs going against each other in training and there’s learning for us and the players,” O’Connell continued.

“That’s something they’ve been really good at, getting better campaign on campaign. To play against those guys and the emphasis they put on that part of the game is brilliant.

“We’re lucky we have a few guys who put a massive emphasis on that part of their game as well, guys who are pretty obsessed with scrum and lineout maul.

“For us, it’s going to be a brilliant learning experience. We take on teams that like mauling a lot, we probably don’t take on teams that like mauling as much as South Africa. So, for us to be able to have a plan and see how it works will be brilliant.”

A big day for the team, and a big day for one man in particular. O’Connell’s fellow Munster man, Conor Murray, will become just the eighth player to win 100 Test caps for Ireland, joining Brian O’Driscoll (133), Ronan O’Gara (128), Rory Best (124), Cian Healy (118), O’Connell (108), Johnny Sexton (108) and John Hayes (105).

“It’s brilliant. It’s good to have another Munster man, we’re ahead in something anyway!” 

But it’s great, he’s a fantastic guy, Conor, he’s actually a very quiet guy and sometimes you might receive that as him being laid back but he’s a very dedicated rugby player. He’s a very smart rugby player, works hard on his game. Both the teams he plays for means an awful lot to him so this milestone, for him, is very important, very important for his family as well. I’ve been lucky to get to know his family over the years. It’s brilliant for him. 

“I’ve enjoyed a few of those guys now. I’m 43 now but I would have seen him coming into the Academy. I think it was the year we won the Magners League at the time, I think it was 2011 I when he broke through and when you’re an older player and see a young guy who within four or five matches or training sessions you’re kind of going ‘oh my God, we’ve a really good one here’, it’s a great feeling. 

O'Connell and Murray playing for Munster in 2014. Inpho / Billy Stickland Inpho / Billy Stickland / Billy Stickland

“The longevity he’s had is brilliant, I’m delighted, he’s a big asset and the way he looks after himself as well, he’s plenty left in him. He’s a brilliant athlete, still unbelievably hungry and this challenge he’s in now for his place with the guys coming along behind him and the guys who are in front of him is only going to be brilliant for us and for him as well.”

O’Connell even has a favourite Murray moment.

“I remember he had a try disallowed in the World Cup, I think it was against Australia, he came off the bench, it might have been his fourth cap, the ball bobbled his way off a knock-on. He side-stepped James O’Connor and scored a try. It was disallowed but it was an unbelievable piece of skill.

“Then as a Munster man I was saying… As an Irishman I was saying ‘this is great, we’ve an unbelievable player but thank God he’s a Munster man as well!’ because it was 2011 and our backs were to the wall a little bit and that always sticks out for me.

“We watched the highlight reel of some of his stuff last night and that didn’t feature. If the try had been allowed it would have been a magic moment.”

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