Eddie O'Sullivan believes Ireland should look to avoid getting caught up in a physical contest against South Africa in the upcoming tour test match.

Head coach Joe Schmidt named his Ireland team to face South Africa on Saturday with Jared Payne's redeployment from centre to a more natural full-back role the big talking point from a selection with no real shocks. 

Former Ireland head coach Eddie feels Schmidt's addition of the pace of Jordi Murphy in the pack "might be an indication that he's going to move the ball around and keep South Africa on the move."

"I've been involved in five tests against South Africa and the one thing you don't do is try to beat them up physically. You try and take advantage of playing a quicker game, looking for space rather than collisions because the game is going to be attritional enough. When they have the ball, they're going to run at us like wildebeests and we're basically going to have to swallow our tongues and make big tackles," Eddie told Off The Ball.