'Springboks will be twice as good but we can win'

World champions South Africa beat Ireland 27-20 in the opening game in the two-match series in Pretoria

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."

Opener 'down a level' from World Cup game

While last weekend's contest with a hugely entertaining affair, Farrell believes it didn't match the quality of their pool meeting at last year's World Cup when the Irish beat the eventual champions in a thrilling contest.

"I think it was down [a level from the World Cup game] certainly from our point of view.

"South Africa played outstandingly well in that game as well. It was a bounce of a ball or a refereeing decision or whatever it may be."

Farrell said that Ireland trained "unbelievably well" on the Wednesday prior to the first Test and also looked sharp during the Captain's Run a week ago but that those pre-match preparations didn't translate into a satisfactory display in Pretoria.

"That’s what I was disappointed with that it didn’t transfer to what we expected of ourselves," added.

"We trained well again this week and there’s an appetite there and there’s a little bit of spark in their eyes but it’s got to translate on the day."

Andy Farrell says tour skipper Peter O'Mahony can still play a huge role in the second Test despite missing out on Ireland's starting line-up

While O'Mahony will not start Saturday's contest, the Ireland coach believes the Munster veteran still could have a big bearing on the game's outcome.

"He’s a determined type bloke. Always there to try and prove a point.

"And you know what it’s like with the game now [and all the replacements]. What he will bring for us is something very important. Not just the leadership part but the knowhow and the determination that he’ll have himself to prove a point."

Farrell added that O'Mahony's Munster team-mate, fly-half Jack Crowley will have gained invaluable experience from last weekend's contest in what was only his sixth start for the Irish.

"He’s a quality player and he’s able to stay focused with the chaos all around him and when things are not going quite the way that he would hope.

"He’s played some really promising games for us but it’s the ones he’s learning from the most and I’ve no doubt he learned a lot from last week of how to control a game, how to have authority on the game."