IAN HERBERT: It’s a kind of magic for super Johnny Sexton as Ireland claim landmark 13-8 victory against South Africa in an epic at the Stade de France

• Ireland clinched a huge 13-8 victory against South Africa on Saturday afternoon 
• Johnny Sexton led his side to the victory scoring five points with the boot
• Ireland’s Mack Hansen scored the only try to put Ireland top of the group 
• Latest Rugby World Cup 2023 news, including fixtures, live scores and results

The Stade de France sound system was in overdrive as the clock ticked towards midnight on Saturday. 

‘Don’t stop me now, I’m having such a good time, I’m having a ball.’ And just as the great old Queen lyric played, there was Johnny Sexton, skipping on to the field, his arms flapping around like he was conducting the piece. 

Taking in the moment he’ll still be talking about when he’s old and grey. One of his young sons was alongside him as he walked the pitch perimeter with all the other players who are giving the Irish nation a narrative the like of which few in that land can remember.

Together they looked like a father and boy in the park — the boy periodically shouting something, the father momentarily distracted by the scene in front of him, then remembering there was a 10-year-old beside him as they walked.

Johnny Sexton (pictured) led Ireland to a huge victory at the Stade de France against South Africa

Ireland won the physical contest 13-8 with Mack Hansen crossing the whitewash for the only try of the match

Half an hour later, Sexton (right) walked into the press conference room — no fuss; his face bearing only a slight sign of the titanic effort of the 13-8 win over the world champions; still in his boots, one sock pulled up, the other half-way around his left calf. 

He could for all the world have just wandered in off the Avenue Jules Rimet. Only when the question of the 30,000-strong Irish support came up did he wear a look of animation.

‘More like 60,000 wasn’t it?’ he said, suddenly possessed with the thought of the size and noise of a gathering which left you wondering if there was actually anyone left back in Dublin. 

Sexton has referenced them often in this tournament and the way this team and nation are fused is something rare indeed. 

It’s a bond that seems born of the modesty, the lack of ego, a sense that these individuals are the kind you would sit down with on any weekend night at Donoghue’s on Dublin’s Merrion Row.

They stand with each other, too. When centre Gary Ringrose was sent barrelling back by the massive torso of his Bok opposite number Damian de Allende on Saturday night, he seemed momentarily knocked out.

Spotting his struggle to climb up, Ringrose’s partner Peter O’Mahony used gesture, as well as voice, to tell him to get back on his feet to help his friends repel a South African attack which was bordering on terrifying in the first 20 minutes.

It was an extraordinary moment, almost lost in the elemental fury.

Ireland go top of the group four points clear of South Africa in second, who play Tonga next

Many of the team are into their 30s — not just Sexton, at 38, but men like Tadhg Beirne, Josh van der Flier, Peter O’Mahony and Jamison Gibson-Park. 

All playing with a sense that there may not be many more moments like this. That’s something Ireland connects with, too. Sexton’s relationship with Andy Farrell shines through.

A French reporter asked if this win meant Ireland could be World Champions.

Farrell was momentarily lost for a way to dismiss this, so he threw it over to his fly-half, who provided some appropriate words about perspective before he walked away, inconspicuously.

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