AT least we were spared the usual platitudes that opposing international coaches have heaped on successive Irish teams over the years, praising our passion and commitment in defeat.

As he leans casually in a doorway at the South African team hotel in the Dublin suburbs, his near six feet and eight inches topped with a boyish mop of hair, the quiet presence of Eben Etzebeth appears at odds with his burgeoning reputation as the Springboks’ newest hard man.