Ulster’s flying winger Zac Ward’s belief that speed can beat physicality will be put to the test this weekend as Richie Murphy’s side welcome the Bulls to Ravenhill.

The South Africans are top of the table with two bonus point wins and have a contingent of their Springbok world cup winners in Handre Polland, Willie le Roux and Canan Moodie in the squad.

The Bulls will look to dominate Ulster up front but Ward – a former Ireland Sevens star – feels the province’s pacey back three can negate the South Africans’ power.

“I mean, you take guys’ legs away from them, you can't really run too far, so, you know, they've got big guys and we try and move them around the park, try and beat them with speed and create a bit of space for us out wide and try and score some tries,” Ward said.

placeholder image — Ulster's Zac Ward is looking ahead to the challenge of facing the Bulls on Saturday. (Photo by Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press)

“They are big guys and they run pretty hard, and they hit pretty hard, but we're a pretty mobile team and you move big guys around the pitch, they tire out quite easily.

“So that's going to be definitely a gameplan of ours going into the game, trying to move them around.”

“You offset big bodies, and you get a weak shoulder somewhere, then it makes things a little bit easier to attack from.”

It is just over a year since Ward switched codes and he admits he’s still learning, but as demonstrated for Nathan Doak’s try against the Dragons, he is honing his instincts.

“Doaky kind of keeps nagging me every week that if I make a line break, to slow up and try and find the ball, because he wants a few tries,” he said.

"If I'd played sevens, I probably would have tried to back myself and go into the corner, but I'm not playing sevens anymore, I'm playing XVs and the right option was to give it back inside to Doaky for the easier score.

“I think I've gotten pretty good at suppressing some of my sevens things that I always want to try and do. I mean, I see a little tiny bit of space and I'm thinking that we can take it on, and guys are like, you know, we've got to play a bit smarter here and it's not as loose a game as sevens would be.

“But no, there's things I've learned in sevens that still stand to me. When I get the ball in my hands, I'm always looking to try and take people on and beat people, which is something I definitely learned in sevens and something that I'll definitely carry with me the rest of my career.”

Despite being top of the URC, the Bulls have conceded the third most points in the league and Ward is relishing the challenge on Saturday.

He added: “We watched that game and it’s definitely opportunities that we've seen anyway, and, us as a back three are kind of looking forward to getting the ball, and the way we're trying to play this year, we like to move the ball around a little bit more and give it to our wingers, which is really good.

“So, no, I'm looking forward to it, I mean, as long as the weather stays dry, I'll be happy enough.”