Match Centre: Ireland 19-16 South Africa

Ireland 19-16 South Africa, Aviva Stadium

Ireland managed to overcome injury setbacks as they edged out South Africa 19-16 in their autumn international clash at Aviva Stadium on Saturday.

Andy Farrell's men have justified their number one ranking with a victory over the World Champions after defeating New Zealand on their own backyard in July.

Conor Murray playing his 100th game was amongst the players to leave the field in the opening half along with Stuart McCloskey and Tadhg Furlong.

The opening 10 minutes saw Johnny Sexton and Damian Willemse exchange penalties before the Springboks were down to 14 players temporarily in the 16th minute when Cheslin Kolbe was sin-binned for a dangerous tip-tackle on Mackenzie Hansen.

McCloskey, who started following an injury to Robbie Henshaw was replaced in the 26th minute after landing on his arm and Murray had to leave the field in the 35th minute following a groin issue. The final five minutes of the opening half saw Sexton and Kolbe exchange three-pointers as the teams went into the break unseparated with a 6-6 scoreline.

Ireland showed better intent in the second half with back to back tries in the first 10 minutes. First it was Josh van der Flier, who went over the line following a rolling maul before Gibson-Park sent an offload for Hansen to dive on the left. Sexton missed both the conversions but Ireland had increased their lead to 16-6.

As the game entered the final 13 minutes, Franco Mostert stretched the line to dot down before Sexton's penalty goal made it 19-11. The 75th minute saw Eben Etzebeth sent a perfect offload for Kurt-Lee Arendse to score but Ireland managed to hold on to their three-point lead in the remaining minutes to complete a thrilling win.

Team line up:

Ireland: Keenan; Baloucoune, Ringrose, McCloskey, Hansen; Sexton (capt), Murray; Porter, Sheehan, Furlong, Beirne, Ryan; O'Mahony, Van der Flier, Doris.

Reserves: Herring, Healy, Bealham, Treadwell, Conan, Gibson-Park, Carbery, O'Brien.

South Africa: Kolbe; Arendse, Kriel, De Allende, Mapimpi; Willemse, Hendrikse; Kitshoff, Marx; Malherbe, Etzebeth, De Jager, Kolisi (capt), Du Toit, Wiese.

Reserves: Mbonambi, Nche, Koch, Mostert, Fourie, Smith, De Klerk, Le Roux