This rearranged fixture against the Sharks in Durban is hardly ideal timing for Ulster and their lengthy journey has not been made any easier as it comes in the wake of last weekend’s reverse at Glasgow.
With the pressure very much back on the northern province in terms of their top four ambitions in the URC, Dan McFarland’s squad must start winning games again – last Friday’s 17-11 defeat was Ulster’s third in four league outings – and with immediate effect with five rounds to go.
They did at least escape a wet and windy Scotstoun with a losing bonus point thanks to John Cooney’s last-gasp penalty and, on a further positive note for the province the 32-year-old is believed to be travelling to South Africa with the squad and therefore not potentially hooking up with Scotland for whom he could play this week under the three-year rule.
Ulster will be further boosted by having Duane Vermeulen and Michael Lowry available after both missed the clash with Glasgow. And despite the heat – temperatures of around 30 degrees with very high humidity are expected on Saturday afternoon – the visitors will feel there might be something on offer from this game as eight of the Sharks’ Springbok frontliners are in national camp until next month.
Not making the trip for Ulster are Jacob Stockdale and Kieran Treadwell with both being named alongside fellow Ulster players Iain Henderson, Stuart McCloskey, Tom O’Toole and Rob Herring in the Ireland squad ahead of the Six Nations game away to Italy.
Ben Moxham, who started on the wing against Glasgow, was concussed and is following the return to play protocols while Robert Baloucoune will also not be joining the travelling party as he remains sidelined by injury.
“We were disappointed [with Glasgow],” said Ulster assistant coach Dan Soper. “We’d had a tough couple of months, and we’d come out the back end of that and things had started going in the right direction and we really wanted a performance and didn’t quite get to the level we wanted.
“But we’ll take our learnings from it and hope to move on this week,” he added before addressing the congested table where Ulster lie third, but with only six points between themselves and the Sharks who are four places behind them.
“It’s still in our control, if we can perform and win games then we’ll be pushing into a better position to get a home quarter-final and if we don’t perform then we’re relying on results elsewhere and that’s never a nice place to be,” said Soper.
