Hugo Keenan hopes Ireland’s statement win against South Africa has eased “lurking” pressure of playing at Stade de France as they prepare for up to four more crunch World Cup fixtures at the venue.

Full-back Keenan revealed his partner thought he looked ill due to nerves ahead of Saturday’s thrilling 13-8 success over the reigning champions.

The 27-year-old’s only other Test outings in Paris ended in costly Six Nations defeats to France in 2020 and 2022.

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But Andy Farrell’s men ended their hoodoo at the home of French rugby to take control of Pool B moving towards a pivotal group-stage finale against Scotland on October 7.

Ireland’s World Cup destiny will be decided in Saint-Denis – the showdown with the Scots will also be staged there – in addition to each of their potential knockout matches, including the final.

Tournament debutant Keenan was riddled with anxiety at the prospect of arguably the biggest match of his career before helping to snap his country’s Paris losing streak.

“God, I was nervous, I met my girlfriend briefly (beforehand) and she thought I looked sick,” he said of facing the Springboks.

“I felt good once I got out there; it’s a pressure environment.

“Stade de France hasn’t been kind to us in the past. There’s a pressure lurking that we were keen personally and as a team from that loss to France last year to learn from.

“We’re just going to review this game and focus on Scotland; it’s the only thing we can control and we’re definitely not getting ahead of ourselves.”

Keenan’s second international cap was a 35-27 away loss to Les Bleus, which wiped Ireland out of title contention in the protracted 2020 Six Nations.

The Leinster player has been an almost ever-present since his Test debut and was part of the team ultimately denied a Grand Slam by a 30-24 defeat in the French capital in February last year.

While the second of those setbacks occurred in front of a partisan home crowd following a behind-closed-doors clash amid the coronavirus pandemic, Ireland were roared on to victory against the Springboks by tens of the thousands of travelling Irish fans.

“Jeez, that support was incredible,” said Keenan.

“The Irish crowd are amazing: the numbers, the amount of people who made the effort to get over here and support us – it made some difference.

“You need to harness it at the right times and I think the forwards did.

“I’m sure South Africa felt under the cosh at times when the 60-odd-thousand Irish fans are cheering for us, it does make a difference.

“There’s times you have to ignore it during play and just do your job, but you also have to embrace it and make the most of it.

“The walkaround after the game was incredibly special, I saw some familiar faces which makes it extra cool.”

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend insisted the standard of officiating at the World Cup needs to improve after being left perplexed by the decision not to issue a red card to Tonga’s Afusipa Taumoepeau for a high tackle that forced his captain Jamie Ritchie off and ruled him out of the next match against Romania.

The Scots scored seven tries as they defeated the Pacific islanders 45-17 in Nice on Sunday to get the bonus-point win they needed to kick-start their tournament and keep alive their hopes of progressing to the knockout phase.

However, Townsend was astonished that Taumoepeau did not have his yellow card upgraded to a red for the 33rd-minute flashpoint that left his skipper with a head injury and unable to take part in full contact training until the eve of what is shaping up to be a critical showdown with Ireland in Paris a week on Saturday.

The head coach’s anger was heightened by the fact there was a similar scenario in Scotland’s first game when South Africa’s Jesse Kriel dodged a red card despite appearing to make head-on-head contact with Jack Dempsey.

“It’s very disappointing that our captain, one of our key players, was hit in the head and had to be removed from the game,” said Townsend. “It’s twice now that’s happened. Against South Africa, Jack was hit in the head. Nothing happened that day, and today it was only a yellow card.

“I just don’t understand what the TMO bunker and the three officials who are there to say if it’s a red card are looking at. They are trying to look at ways to not give red cards rather than referee what isn’t a legal tackle and should be a red card, in my opinion.

“This is our showcase, our opportunity to show what is legal and what is illegal, what we want out of the game. That’s two tackles now, both upright, both hit the head of our players, one had no sanction, not even a penalty, and the second one just had a yellow card. I don’t think that’s good enough.”

Townsend was pleased with the way his team handled the pressure of needing a bonus-point win to keep themselves in with a sniff of qualifying for the quarter-finals from a formidable pool B. The Scots’ seven tries were all scored by different players and four of them came in the first half, reducing any sense of anxiety associated with chasing the bonus.

“It was a bonus – literally – that we got those four tries in the first half,” he said. “It was probably a bit ahead of what we expected. Credit to the players for doing that.

“Tonga are a very good side with very good individuals. They are very physical. We talked about the fact that the work we did in the first 20 minutes might not necessarily lead to points on the board but we believed we could take away their fitness.”

Ireland’s win over South Africa on Saturday made Scotland’s qualification bid slightly harder than it already was as Townsend’s men will now have to beat the Irish in Paris in the last game and ensure their opponents do not get a losing bonus point. 

“Reading a few comments after the game, it looked like Ireland were already in the quarter-finals,” smiled Townsend, mildly miffed by such talk. “Even chatting to a few people today, they were saying it will be Ireland against New Zealand. Maybe that’s already been decided.

“We know we have to win our next two games, and it’s likely now we’ll have to win with either a bonus point or deny Ireland a bonus point. But we’ve got a game next week (against Romania) to focus on and we’ve got to get maximum points from that one first.”

Johnny Sexton faces a disciplinary hearing on Thursday that could see the outcome impact Ireland’s World Cup preparations.

The Ireland captain had a misconduct complaint lodged against him following his behaviour towards match officials in the wake of Leinster’s Heineken Champions Cup final defeat by La Rochelle on May 20.

Sexton did not play in the game at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium due to his continued recovery from a groin injury.

But he went on to the pitch after the match – Leinster lost 27-26 – and became involved in what appeared to be a heated exchange with South African referee Jaco Peyper and other match officials.

Tournament organiser European Professional Club Rugby submitted misconduct complaints against 37-year-old Sexton and Leinster following what it described as a “thorough fact-finding and careful review” of Sexton’s actions, and also Leinster for not exercising reasonable control over their player.

Sexton, who intends to retire after the World Cup in France later this year, will appear by video conference call before an independent disciplinary panel chaired by Christopher Quinlan KC.

Ireland’s opening World Cup warm-up match is against Italy on August 5, followed by appointments later that month with England and Samoa.

Their first World Cup game sees them tackle Romania in Bordeaux on September 9, so a suspension for Sexton has potential to affect his availability.

Announcing the disciplinary, EPCR said: “Misconduct complaints against the Leinster Rugby player, Johnny Sexton, and against Leinster Rugby, arising from the Heineken Champions Cup final on Saturday May 20 2023, have been lodged by EPCR.

“After thorough fact-finding and careful review of Johnny Sexton’s behaviour towards match officials after the match, in accordance with EPCR regulations, the EPCR disciplinary officer has submitted misconduct complaints so that an independent disciplinary panel can determine whether any misconduct has been committed by Mr Sexton (through his behaviour) and Leinster (through failing to exercise reasonable control over Mr Sexton).”