World Cup winner Steven Kitshoff backing Ulster to turn fortunes around after three defeats in a row

Ulster fell to a heavy 37-14 defeat against Bath in their opening European tie on Saturday and have now lost three games in a row after allowing leads to slip in the the United Rugby Championship against Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Kitshoff, though, is hoping Ulster can turn their fortunes around against Racing at the weekend and return to winning ways in front of their home fans.

“It was a bit of a wake-up call but I didn't think I'd walk in and we'd just start winning – it doesn't work like that, you have to put in the hard work,” he said.

“It's definitely a bit of a wake-up call and I need to make sure I get myself right before I expect to perform as I should. I haven't been on par yet.

“Rugby is a weird game and you've got a nice seven-day turnaround before the opportunity to play again.

“For me, it's making sure I've my ducks in a row, try and check all the boxes and try to put up a massive performance against Racing.”

Kitshoff is relishing the challenge of facing his South Africa captain Syia Kolisi and famed ‘bomb squad’ member Trevor Nyakane.

“I watched the Racing-Harlequins game in really big detail over the weekend – I spent my Sunday night watching the game,” he said.

“Siya – watching that one game – he's a massive attacking threat when he gets the ball in hand, quite dangerous.

“Defensively he's solid, he's a threat at the breakdown; I haven't seen his lineout skills tested yet.

“Siya is an awesome player, Trevor (Nyakane) has been playing off the bench but I know he'll be involved this weekend,” he added.

“They're two massive South African ball carriers, brute-force players. If Siya has an on-day, we'll have our hands full.”

“I'd love Trevor to start for Racing, we have some great history, all the way back when he was playing for the Cheetahs, we came across each other.“He's been an awesome Springbok tighthead prop, an awesome Springbok loosehead prop as well, he's been playing great rugby.”

“It would be interesting to have a scrum battle against Trevor.”

Kishoff led the Stormers to the last two URC finals, winning one and losing one, but when Ulster came calling it was an easy decision for the double World Cup winner to leave Cape Town.

“Dan [McFarland] made a great bid for me which was awesome, I had long conversations with him and I felt like a bit of a change,” he said.

“I had a five-year stint with the Stormers, went to Bordeaux for a couple of seasons, did another seven years there.

“For me it was about broadening my horizons, growing a bit as a person and experiencing something new. I've seen it happen a lot before where guys get stuck in a rut when they stay at the same club too long.

“It was an awesome opportunity.”

One of the biggest influences on Kitshoff’s career was Tendai Mtawarira, simply known as the ‘Beast’.

“I must say Beast was one of my big mentors during the 2019 World Cup and even working with Ox (Os du Randt) at the previous World Cup, scrumming with Frans all these years, they've been massive in my career.

“Working alongside them, working with them, competing against them, it all develops you and when you stagnate that's when you go backwards.

“For me, working with a new group of guys… to be honest I had to learn 90% of the guys' names coming into the club.

“I didn't know how they scrummed, how they'd psyche themselves up for a game, what the procedures are prior to a game.

“Those are all things I had to learn in the first couple of weeks.

“Now it's just finding our feet and making sure we put in good performances and tick all the boxes, get the stuff done in the week and pitch in on a Saturday.”