Watch: Ireland's Conor Murray: "We just stood so strong and backed each other"

IRELAND scrum-half Conor Murray was pleased with the manner in which the players had ‘stood so strong and backed each other’ in order to grind out Saturday night's pulsating World Cup victory over champions South Africa in Paris.

Grand Slam champions Ireland assumed control of Pool B of the competition, making it three wins from three, when edging past the Springboks 13-8 in an epic encounter at a raucous Stade de France.

The Irish players will get some well deserved downtime now before the focus switches to Saturday week's final pool fixture against Scotland back at the same match venue.

Limerick scrum-half Murray, who made a big impact on the game when sprung from the replacements' bench in the second period described the game as ‘one hell of a Test match.’

Afterwards Murray told RTE Sport: “I always struggle straight after a game to sum it up, but that was one hell of a test match. It was so tough, so tight, so tense.

“There had been such a big build-up to it obviously, the chat during the week and even before the World Cup about this game.

“We just stood so strong and backed each other up. It wasn't perfect. Both sides made a lot of mistakes. I thought we worked so hard for each other for the whole game. They are an incredible side, really, really difficult to play against.

'That was one hell of a test match'

Conor Murray speaks to RTÉ Sport after Ireland beat the defending champions South Africa at the RWC in Paris #RTERugby pic.twitter.com/1it0sWg3A1

— RTÉ Rugby (@RTErugby) September 24, 2023

“You can see that with their line speed and how physical they are. We are a really, really happy dressing room and we have a week off to recover the bodies because that was a tough game and there will be sore bodies afterwards, but we are delighted, obviously.

“The stadium, the atmosphere, was next level. I have never experienced anything like that.

“It is a long day for players to wait for a game with a 9pm kick-off, but to get that kind of atmosphere it is fully worth it, so I think everyone had a good night.”

Ireland have extended their winning run to 16 matches following Saturday's success.

Murray said: “I think that (winning tight games) is a habit you have to learn. We have our gameplan and we would like it to go smoothly all the time, but it doesn't. That's international rugby.

“Andy (Farrell) and all the other coaches has taught us that it's about finding a way. Days are not going to be perfect, days are going to be difficult, you are going to make mistakes, it is just about finding a way and I think we have managed to do that.”