'Incredibly gifted players': Ulster plotting Sharks' downfall

SPOTLIGHT: After a thrilling win over the Lions in Johannesburg, Ulster will now be heading into their match against a star-studded Sharks outfit full of confidence.

The Irish side left Ellis Park with five points in the bag with a 39-37 win at Ellis Park.

They became the first Northern Hemisphere side to get a victory on South African soil this season.

However, it is set to get a lot tougher for them at Kings Park in Durban on Saturday.

The Sharks smashed Glasgow 40-12 with a number of their returning Springboks coming off the bench in the second half.

Those big names like Siyamthanda Kolisi, Makazole Mapimpi, Mbongeni Mbonambi and Retshegofaditswe Nché are set to join Eben Eztebeth in the starting line-up this week, which will surely make Ulster's task that much harder.

"Every week is a new challenge and a different challenge," said Ulster fullback Michael Lowry ahead of their second game of their South African trip.

"It’ll be a bit more humid in Durban, maybe showers and rain, but thankfully we’ll be down at sea level to help the lungs recover.

"The Sharks have a lot of incredibly gifted players, a lot of Springbok internationals.

"We’ll have to prepare like we have done this week, prepare like we’re at home.

"That’s going to be another physical challenge.

"We’ll rest up and get stuck in. We’ll take our learnings from this week and hopefully improve to get another important win."

The story continues below...

Success in South Africa

Meanwhile, on that match in Johannesburg, Ulster head coach Dan McFarland was relieved to see his team finally have some success in South Africa.

They lost three games in South Africa last season, which included two defeats to the Stormers in Cape Town.

One of those matches was a semifinal.

"We had a couple of close games in South Africa last year and we did use that in the motivation in the sense that we hadn't got over the line but we knew we were well capable of it," said McFarland.

"In the Stormers first game we were unlucky and in the second we let it go at the death.

"There were two elements to that, one was getting a win [in South Africa] in the new URC and the other was sealing games in the end.

"I'm really proud of the efforts of the guys because I don't think many people realise how hard it is to win in South Africa."

Source: Belfast Telegraph