Marcell Coetzee challenges Ulster to press on during derby Guinness PRO14 games

Having ground out a 19-12 win over a depleted Munster side, Ulster will now face their next two Irish derbies on the road.

First up is Connacht at The Sportsground, Galway, on Friday night before a daunting prospect in Dublin against double champions Leinster.

Leinster showed, even with a rotated squad, that they are formidable opponents, when coming from 17 points behind to deny Connacht a win at the RDS 33-29 with an 80th minute goal.

Ulster’s win over Munster - which put them clear in second place in Conference B - was their fourth in a row in all competitions and Coetzee wants that form to continue.

“You want to keep the momentum going, you don’t want to have any setbacks going into the New Year, especially with a strong Leinster in the New Year.

“So, before we even focus on that we’ll focus on Connacht.

“Last time we came second best, so a lot of prep and work needs to go in, a lot of professionalism off the field with Christmas being around, so we have to keep our eye on the prize and keep doing what we’re doing.”

In terms of his own game, Coetzee is just glad to be finally getting a run of games injury free following two horrid seasons with Ulster where he missed most of both due to a serious knee injury.

His physical presence has been huge for Ulster, his ball carrying second to none and it came to the fore against Munster when he deservedly collected the Guinness man of the match award.

He said: “It’s a real blessing to be out there with the boys and expressing yourself.

“Ultimately it was a team effort, we stuck to our guns and showed what we’re made of.

“To walk away with the accolade is a blessing for me, and I’d like to take this moment to thank my God for blessing me tonight and so far this whole season He’s been immense for me, and getting back from long term injury and really pulled me through tonight as well, so thanks to Him.”

Ulster were second best to Munster up front in the first half and the coaching staff had a stern message at half time.

“We received the message at half-time, the one thing about Dan (McFarland) is he’s very honest and it was a tough one to swallow that first half.

“We had to readjust our physicality and aggression going into the second half. Luckily rugby is a game of two halves, so you can fix it.

“By all means it wasn’t a perfect performance from our side, we made a lot of mistakes, particularly in the set-piece, line-outs and not keeping the ball in contact.

“There are definitely work ons for us going into next week which we’ll have to rectify for playing a strong Connacht away.”

It was maul time where Ulster were most impressive in the second half, something they have shown vast improvement on in the past few weeks.

Coetzee said: “As the season’s gone on it’s become stronger and stronger for us and we ideally see it as a hammer, so a lot of emphasis is put on it in the build-up to the week.

“It just shows, when it’s a crunching game like tonight then you have to stick to your guns and focus on your set-piece, and we’re glad our maul worked out for us.

“We have put a lot of work into all areas where the pack deliver and there is now a great synergy between the boys.”