Kieran Treadwell eyes a response from Ulster in South Africa

Dan McFarland’s men dropped to third in Conference A following the defeat at the Toyota Stadium and are four points adrift of the Cheetahs and Leinster, both of who have started the campaign with maximum points.

Lock Kieran Treadwell is looking for a reaction at the Southern Kings on Saturday afternoon.

“Obviously there are things we need to rectify and work on,” said Treadwell.

“We’re here on tour so we stick together and try to regroup and rectify it for this Saturday’s game.

“We were all disappointed and there really wasn’t much need for many words.

“We all sort of looked at each other and said ‘that wasn’t really us’, so hopefully we can rectify those wrongs at the weekend.

“There were a few little bits that we worked on in the week in training with our strike maul and hopefully that will paid dividends in the weekend.”

Ulster have moved base from Bloemfontein to Cape Town to prepare for their clash with the Kings.

“We’re in Cape Town then we fly to Port Elizabeth, we have a captain’s run then roll on Saturday for the game,” said Treadwell.

“It’s good to get some down time, there are a few coffee shops here, in Bloemfontein there wasn’t really a lot.

“It’s different but at the end of the day we’re here to do a job.”

Treadwell has started the opening two games of the season in the engine room with new Australian signing Sam Carter.

And the three times Ireland capped lock is hoping the partnership will flourish.

“He’s a good leader and he has a lot of experience playing with the Wallabies and the Brumbies,” said Treadwell.

“He’s a good guy to sort of look up to and be like a sponge and soak up all the knowledge he has got.”

The Kings have lost both their opening games in Conference B and have one losing bonus point.

Ulster have won all four games against the Kings scoring 24 tries in the process.

But with a new coaching structure in place Treadwell acknowledges Ulster can’t under estimate the South Africans.

“I don’t think there are any easy games in the Pro14,” he said.

“Coming away from home is tough and we’ve just got to do what we have to do to get the win.

“We’re expecting quite an expansive game, they like to run and kick.

“They have a big pack and are physical up front again we have to front up more than we did against the Cheetahs.”

Ulster do not want a repeat of last week’s game in Bloemfontein when 13 tries were scored and the game became fast and loose.

“Towards the end of the game it definitely went that sort of way,” added Treadwell.

“We were chasing that losing bonus point and we have a structure in place to get us into the right places on the pitch and getting the ball into our players hands and see what we can do.”