South Africa vs Ireland LIVE rugby: Latest build-up and updates from second Test in Durban

Andy Farrell expects world champions South Africa to be “twice as good” during the second Test in Durban but believes Ireland can still salvage a series draw.

The Springboks will bid to cement their status as Test rugby’s top-ranked nation on Saturday following last weekend’s 27-20 success in Pretoria.

Ireland have not lost consecutive Test matches since round two of the 2021 Six Nations and head coach Farrell hopes to see significant room for improvement from his side.

Rassie Erasmus is able to name the most experienced Springboks side in history as the South Africa coach sticks with an unchanged matchday 23. Six forwards are again included among the replacements after making a decisive impact in the first Test.

South Africa XV: 1 Ox Nche, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 3 Frans Malherbe; 4 Eben Etzebeth, 5 Franco Mostert; 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 8 Kwagga Smith; 9 Faf de Klerk, 10 Handre Pollard; 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 12 Damian de Allende, 13 Jesse Kriel, 14 Cheslin Kolbe; 15 Willie le Roux.

Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Salmaan Moerat, 20 RG Snyman, 21 Marco van Staden; 22 Grant Williams, 23 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.

Ireland have not lost two Test matches in a row since defeat to Wales and France at the start of the 2021 Six Nations.

Since then, Farrell’s men have played 38 games and won 33, losing only to New Zealand (twice), France, England and the Springboks. Ireland will be determined to maintain that impressive record as they move towards autumn fixtures against the All Blacks, Argentina, Fiji and Australia.

The four November fixtures will be the final outings before Farrell temporarily departs to take charge of next year’s British and Irish Lions tour against the Wallabies.

South Africa have the opportunity to cement their current status as rugby’s top-ranked nation after ending a seven-year wait for a win over their closest challengers.

Despite the Springboks overcoming a pool-stage loss to Ireland at last year’s World Cup to retain the Webb Ellis Cup, some pundits have continued to suggest Andy Farrell’s back-to-back Six Nations champions are Test rugby’s best team.

The hosts are heavy favourites to secure a series win. Doing so would surely settle the ongoing debate – for the time being at least.

The Springboks benefited from a couple of tight TMO calls during the opening Test. Ireland wing James Lowe thought he had levelled the contest at 13-13 in the second half with a breakaway score.

But the effort was disallowed on review due to Kelleher illegally hooking the ball backwards during the Irish turnover. Lowe was then adjudged to have successfully prevented a South Africa penalty kick going into touch as he inadvertently gifted a try to Cheslin Kolbe.

Farrell was “dubious” about some of the marginal calls in that match but former international referee Jaco Peyper, who is now part of South Africa’s staff, backed those decisions.

South Africa have named an unchanged matchday 23 for Saturday’s second Test against Ireland in Durban.

The world champions lead the two-match series 1-0 following last weekend’s 27-20 victory in Pretoria.

Rassie Erasmus’ starting XV – captained by flanker Siya Kolisi – is the most experienced in Springboks history with 990 caps combined, three more than the total won by the team which began last year’s 12-11 Rugby World Cup final win over New Zealand.

“It’s always tough facing Ireland,” said head coach Erasmus.

“They are a quality team, they are ranked second in the world and, as we saw last week, they never stop fighting, so we know the magnitude of the challenge that awaits us.

“We have no doubt they’ll come out even stronger this week but we also identified the areas of the game that we need to improve on and it’s vital for us to build on our performance in our quest to win both matches.

“This is going to be another physically gruelling match and, just like us, they will be determined to correct the wrongs of last week.”

Ireland boss Andy Farrell feels captain Peter O’Mahony has shown “proper leadership” in his response to being dropped for Saturday’s second Test against world champions South Africa.

Caelan Doris will skipper the tourists in Durban after O’Mahony was demoted to the bench as part of four personnel changes.

Caelan Doris will captain an Ireland team missing influential centre Bundee Aki for the second Test against world champions South Africa in Durban.

Aki sustained a shoulder issue during last weekend’s 27-20 loss in Pretoria but looked set to feature in the series finale after Andy Farrell’s full 35-man squad trained on Wednesday.

Good afternoon all, and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of the second Test between South Africa and Ireland in Durban.

Last week’s encounter more than lived up to the lofty biling, a brutal, bruising affair settled, in the end, by an almighty shove from the replacement Springboks scrum. Can a wounded Ireland bite back?