'Please God': The Ireland camp verdict on facing Boks a year on from hammering

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell is relishing a showdown with world champions South Africa as he prepares his side for a “fantastic challenge” in next weekend’s mouthwatering Dublin finale.

Victory over the Springboks at the Aviva Stadium will almost certainly be required to keep alive Irish hopes of reaching the inaugural Nations Championship final at Twickenham.

Ireland overcame a disjointed first-half display to beat Fiji 43-15 on Saturday after beginning their three home autumn fixtures with a 42-12 win over Argentina.

“We review every game, obviously, and take the learnings from that,” said Farrell, who admitted the margin of victory over Fiji flattered his side.

“The quicker we do that and the quicker we turn the page onto what’s going to be an unbelievably exciting week with the world champions coming to town (the better), it really doesn’t get any better than that.

“To be able to test yourselves, especially with the type of rugby that they’re playing at this moment in time, it’s a fantastic challenge for us.”

With four wins from five, Ireland sit level on 20 points with second-placed England in the northern hemisphere standings – one point behind leaders France.

Les Bleus retained top spot thanks to Friday evening’s thrilling 21-19 success over four-time world champions South Africa in Paris.

Ireland have won three of five matches against the Springboks during Farrell’s reign but were overpowered in a 24-13 Dublin defeat last November.

“It’s a game that we look forward to because there’s a lot of respect there that we have for South Africa and what they’ve done, not just at the World Cups, but certainly over the last 18 months or so,” said Farrell.

Ill-disciplined Ireland were shown five cards and dismantled by South Africa’s forward pack in a chaotic contest 12 months ago.

Hooker Ronan Kelleher, who scored the fourth of his country’s seven tries against Fiji, came on from the bench that day.

“Obviously it was a very tough day, particularly at scrum time and for us in the front row,” said Kelleher.

“It’s something that kind of drives you on a bit. You kind of had to take it on the chin.

“There hasn’t been a drastic overhaul (of the scrum) or anything like that, it’s just been us focusing on what we can do.

“I think we’re just gonna have to wait and see next week and please God we’ll have enough in the tank and we’ll do a job.”

Wing Tommy O’Brien believes Ireland need to produce a “nine or 10 out of 10” performance to topple the Springboks.

“I think last year in November a few guys came in post-Lions having only played maybe one game going into it, maybe felt a little bit undercooked,” said O’Brien, who scored two tries against Fiji.

“That wasn’t the case this year, and you can see that we kind of hit the ground running against Argentina, maybe a little bit clunky (on Saturday) but we’ll need kind of a nine or 10 out of 10 performance next week to get the job done.

“Hopefully we can get on the right side of it this year and make it a special day at home in the Aviva.”