A one point defeat on the road to Cardiff last week was a bitter pill to swallow for Matt Williams but the Ulster coach is optimistic his side can bounce back against the Newport-Gwent Dragons at Ravenhill tomorrow night, despite the loss of Paddy Wallace and David Pollock to injury.
Their absence has enforced the only to changes to the side as Williams keeps faith with the rest who came so close to securing just their second away win since April 2007.
Wallace's place in the centre is filled by Rob Dewey and Kieron Dawson makes a welcome return to the backrow as both sides chase a first victory of the new season.
Outhalf Ian Humphreys is named among the replacements alongside Italian International Carlo Del Fava.
"I know my team can win this game," said Williams today. "We played some great rugby on Friday night in Cardiff and the players effort was spot on, if we can repeat that effort and style of rugby and control our penalty count then I am confident we can beat the Dragons.
"The Dragons will be nervous about coming to Ravenhill; they know how intimidating it can be to play at Ravenhill. But they will be sore from their defeat to Munster so we will be taking nothing for granted, we need this win and we are determined to get it" continued Williams.
Dragons Coach Head Coach Paul Turner is also keen to get a win after a 50-6 mauling at the hands of Munster last week and earlier this week said: "Ravenhill is always an exciting and vibrant place to play and the boys are looking forward to heading to Belfast this weekend. The manner in which we leaked points last weekend against Munster was disappointing and this has been addressed in preparation for yet another away trip."
Ulster: C Schifcofske; A Trimble, D Cave, R Dewey, T Nagusa; N O'Connor, l Boss; T Court; R Best(capt), B Botha, R Caldwell, E O'Donoghue, M McCullough, K Dawson, R Diack Replacements: N Brady, J Fitzpatrick, C Del Fava, T Anderson, C Willis, I Humphreys, B Cunningham
Dragons:P Dollman; G Wyatt, R Sidey, A Smith, R Fussell; J Arlidge, W Evans; A Black, T Willis (capt), RM.Thomas; A Jones, L Charteris; J Bearman, R Parks, G Webb. Replacements: S Jones, H Gustafson, A Brown, J Ringer, R Gomer Davies, J Tovey, T Isaacs.
