Andy Farrell expects world champions South Africa to be “twice as good” as they were when winning last weekend’s first Test but still believes his Ireland side can secure a drawn series in Durban on Saturday.
Farrell feels Ireland have room to improve considerably from their performance in the 27-20 defeat in Pretoria.
“It was a proper Test match and I get all that but when we strip it back from our side, we were disappointed in ourselves,” said the Ireland coach.
“Our first-half performance, it wasn’t us, it wasn’t us doing things properly.”
Farrell’s side for Saturday’s game has four changes – three of them enforced by injury – with the big talking point tour skipper Peter O’Mahony’s relegation to the bench as James Ryan comes into the second row with Tadhg Beirne switching from lock to the back row.
“I’ve no doubt South Africa are going to be twice as good this weekend so that’s why we need to move pretty quickly this week in terms of the honesty and where we’re at.
“But I do think if we get the performance that we’re after, we’re more than capable of winning.”