Murray has been named in the starting XV for tomorrow's Test and he joins an illustrious list of players such as Brian O’Driscoll, Ronan O’Gara, Rory Best and his captain, Johnny Sexton, in reaching the milestone.

Murray is one of only six players named in the side that were in the team that famously beat the Springboks 38-3 in 2017.

The fiery scrumhalf is in fact already a centurion as he has played in eight Tests for the British & Irish Lions on three tours for the team made up of the four home nations.

The Irish coach, Andy Farrell, didn’t mince his words when he called Murray a legend of the game.

"I’m in awe of these people," said the former England international, Farrell.

"It’s pretty special because we all know, through a career, what it really takes to get to that type of milestone.

"I suppose when you’re a coach or when you’re a player, you see all the ups and downs and you see the pressures that come in from all sorts of different directions.

"You see, everyone wants to move on to what they perceive to be the next best thing. I just think somebody who stands up to be counted time and time again, to get to a point like that, I’m in awe of it.

"The hardest thing is to stay at the top. Of course, there are ups and downs, but Conor’s a legend of Irish rugby, everyone knows that, and the abilities that he’s shown through the years are second to none."

"The biggest compliment that I could give Conor is that he is a top, top class bloke. I don’t know anyone who’s got a bad word to say about him."

Saturday night’s Test at the Aviva Stadium kicks off at 19:30.

Ireland - 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Robert Baloucoune, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 Mack Hansen, 10 Johnny Sexton (captain), 9 Conor Murray, 8 Caelan Doris, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Peter O'Mahony, 5 James Ryan, 4 Tadhg Beirne, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Dan Sheehan, 1 Andrew Porter

Replacements - 16 Rob Herring, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 Kieran Treadwell, 20 Jack Conan, 21 Jamison Gibson-Park, 22 Joey Carbery, 23 Stuart McCloskey.

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 Nche, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Franco Mostert, 20 Deon Fourie, 21 Kwagga Smith, 22 Faf de Klerk, 23 Willie le Roux.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport