Ireland scrum-half Conor Murray has warned his teammates to expect the unexpected against Jacques Nienaber and his Springbok side on Saturday.

Murray met Nienaber when Nienaber was an assistant coach at the Irish province for the 2016/17 season. Rassie Erasmus, who is now the director of rugby for the Springboks, was the head coach at the Irish province at the time.

Since then, Nienaber and Erasmus have won the 2019 Rugby World Cup together. Next Saturday, in a highly anticipated Pool B match in Paris, they will try to stop Ireland from taking their title from them.

Both teams come into the match having won their last two games.

The Irish have barely been challenged by Romania and Tonga, while the Springboks had a good match against Scotland in their first game, which they won 18–3.

“There is familiarity with having been coached by Jacques (Nienaber) and all the lads,” said Murray following the 59-16 win over Tonga.

“But they are the type of guys who come up with new plans and tricky little things in new games, so you have to be prepared for everything.”

Murray, who started against Tonga but is likely to be on the bench because Jamison Gibson-Park is coming back into the team, said that the Irish may have scored 20 tries in their first two games, but the Springboks are proud of their defence.

He said that South Africa showed how serious they were about defence when they beat New Zealand 35-7 in a warm-up game at Twickenham last month.

“They are a difficult outfit to play against, on both sides of the ball,” said the 34-year-old.

“In terms of their defence, you have seen their defence, especially in Twickenham, so we need to try to navigate around that.”

Murray’s father Gerry watched him play on Saturday, only a few months after he was hit by a car while riding his bike and suffered life-threatening head injuries. Since making his debut with Ireland in 2011, Murray has been an important part of many great games and moments.

Murray has won two Six Nations Grand Slams and a historic series in New Zealand last year, but he still says he’s nervous.

“You’ll be buzzing,” he said. “With nerves, of course. The usual stuff. You’d be afraid if they weren’t there.”

But even someone with so much experience is excited to play against the Springboks, which will be a first for both teams in World Cup history.

He will be hoping for an experience as memorable as when he won his 100th cap against the same team in Dublin last year. The Irish won 19-16 that day.

“Playing the world champs in Paris, if that doesn’t get you excited, or even like tonight (after the Tonga match), when you’re listening to that atmosphere, one of the lads said it: ‘If you can’t enjoy this, then why are you here?’

“So, you have to embrace it too and enjoy the challenge. It’s going to be a massive challenge, world champions in a World Cup.

“It’s something really exciting.”

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