Andy Farrell ready to goup a gear for blockbuster Boks clash

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell is ready to embrace a blockbuster World Cup showdown with South Africa, but acknowledged his team will have to go up a level after their 59-16 defeat of Tonga.

It was a good night all round in Nantes as Johnny Sexton became Ireland's top points scorer in a second bonus-point win on the bounce.

With a maximum return of 10 points from their two Pool B games, Ireland will now head to Paris for a mouthwatering clash with the Springboks.

"Well, we'll have [go up a gear] to but I think we went up another gear today," Farrell told RTÉ Sport.

"We know the task in hand, we're playing against a great side in South Africa but that's what you want, that's what the World Cup is all about, rolling into weeks like this.

"So we're two from two, building nicely, but this is a bit of a different week, a special week but it's something that we'll relish."

Farrell was able to get all eight of his replacements on the pitch by the 55th minute at Stade de la Beaujoire in an eight-try performance.

The positives were many.

"It was very pleasing, how we stayed on it mentally was great," he added.

"I mean a few things weren't going our way in the first half, even though we had good field position we couldn't quite convert that into points.

"We stayed on task and we still dominated field position, and once we got two scores up I thought we were flowing pretty nicely and put some points on the board which was pretty pleasing, and with all the changes we made pretty early it was very pleasing that continued throughout the game."

The only slight negative was a head injury to Finlay Bealham, but Farell wasn't overly concerned, adding: "Finlay is in good spirits so he'll go through the protocols tomorrow."

A happy Andy Farrell is