Ireland captain Caelan Doris said Saturday's Autumn Nations Series test with world champions South Africa it is not an end-of-year friendly but a match with "a lot on the line".
The 27-year-old backrow forward's form has improved like Ireland's during the Autumn tests – his rustiness understandable as he returned after a long lay-off because of a shoulder operation.
He scored a try in their 46-19 record win over Australia last Saturday which was a vastly improved performance on a somewhat flattering 41-10 victory over Japan the preceding weekend.
Doris said that this match was "the real test" and there was definitely an extra edge when the Irish and South Africa played each other.
The Irish under Andy Farrell have beaten them three times in the four tests they have met, including inflicting the only defeat on the Springboks when they won their second successive World Cup in 2023.
"There's definitely a rivalry there," said Doris at his eve of match press conference.
"There's a strong understanding of how we both want to play the game.
"We've had some good results. They've beaten us over there as well in 2024.
"Yeah there's a lot on the line tomorrow, that's the feeling anyway."
Doris, who skippered the Irish to the 2024 Six Nations title, said beating the Boks would put a pep in their step looking ahead to next year's Six Nations.
"I think probably the success of this November hinges a little bit on our performance this weekend," he said.
"This week is a special one, the last test match of the year for us.
"Momentum has been built, and we want to finish on a proper high."
'STRUGGLED TO WIN'
Doris would love to lift the World Cup trophy in two years time – the win over South Africa proved to be a false dawn in 2023 as they went out in the quarterfinals beaten by New Zealand – but his Springbok counterpart Siya Kolisi has done so on two occasions.
Kolisi, though, would like to end a Springbok losing drought in Dublin that goes back to 2012 – admittedly they have played there just three times since then.
"They're a very good team, and that's the reason we've struggled to win here for so many years," said Kolisi.
"It will all be about taking our opportunities this weekend because we've lost with small margins against them at times as a result of that, and we’ve learned a lot from those previous games.
"This is a very important match, so we must be at our best."
The Springboks will not be lacking on inside information as three of head coach Rassie Erasmus's backroom staff are Irish.
Felix Jones is one of them and the former Leinster and Ireland back said it was no surprise the Irish had remained competitive.
"They've been in and around the top three in the world for such a long time now, and it probably goes back to the structures they've created over the last few decades," said the 38-year-old.
"Their school, club, and academy system all feed smoothly into their national system, and from a high level. They’ve nurtured that and capitalised on ensuring that their feeder structure is in a good place."