Ireland head coach Scott Bemand said his side are ready for their “second ascent” as they target a historic series win over South Africa.

No Irish side has ever won back-to-back Test matches on Springbok soil, but, following last weekend’s 40-27 win, Bemand’s team have the chance to make history when they take on the same opponents in Cape Town on Saturday (13:00 GMT).

Bemand is hopeful his side can end the WXV Series and the year on a high by backing up last week’s impressive first victory.

“We were delighted last week. That was a really important game, if you’re going to play a series, getting the first win on the board is a massive event,” Bemand said.

“That leads us to this week, the second ascent and a second chance to back up the win. To get a series win over South Africa would be historic.

“It’s important for us to finish with another winning performance. We’ve got it in us, it’s a massive challenge with the physicality and the South African environment, but for us to finish the year on a winning note would be a big point for us.”

Bemand has made two changes for the second game at Athlone Stadium.

Niamh Gallagher replaces Stacey Flood at full-back while Aoibheann Reilly is recalled at scrum-half as Emily Lane drops to the bench.

“Aoibheann and Emily have been going toe-to-toe. I thought Emily had a great game last week and she had a run for us in the Six Nations. It’s a bit of rotation and giving Aoibheann a shot from the start,” Bemand explained.

“Niamh has been going really well in training and we have been really impressed with how she went in that second Japanese game and she’s earned the right to come have a crack at it.”

Bemand was pleased with how Ireland coped with South Africa’s physicality in the first Test, particularly in a thrilling opening 40 minutes, but warned they will have to go to another level to topple the Springboks once more.

“We knew it would be a really tough start, they’re always there or thereabouts at half-time so we knew they’d be a massive physical challenge to start with and our players did everything they needed to and wanted to do to put ourselves in a position to get the game flowing in the second half,” he added.

“We know it’s going to take an even bigger effort this week, that we’ll have to overcome the physicality again but from what I’ve seen in training, we will make sure we get the scoreboard ticking away form South Africa at the end of the game.”