Willemse will start at flyhalf again this weekend and he will be in direct opposition to the Irish great, who has well over 100 international caps.

Sexton will also be captaining the Emerald Greens in what is the first Test in Dublin between the world number one and the world champions since 2017.

Sexton said he will have to bring his A-game this weekend.

"He’s only played a couple of games at ten for South Africa but he’s unpredictable," said Sexton.

"He’s got fantastic footwork, he has a good kicking game, he’s strong, he’s fast, obviously, and he has some traits that you wouldn’t normally associate with a ten, but he’s an excellent player.

"I'm personally going to have to be ready to play, but we expected him to play at ten. We've done a little bit of analysis on him and we're going to need to do a little bit more on him again."

Saturday's test between Ireland and South Africa at the Aviva Stadium kicks off at 19:30.

Ireland – TBA

Springboks - 15 Cheslin Kolbe, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Damian Willemse, 9 Jaden Hendrikse, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Steven Kitshoff.

Replacements - 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Ox Nché, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Franco Mostert, 20 Deon Fourie, 21 Kwagga Smith, 22 Faf de Klerk, 23 Willie le Roux.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport