Friendship put to the side as Nathan Doak eager to start for Ulster ahead of housemate

Doak was instrumental in the opening night bonus point victory over the Dragons in the United Rugby Championship, scoring one of Ulster’s tries and had a 100% record from the kicking tee by slotting all five conversions.

McKee, aged 24. came off the bench on Friday night for his second appearance while Doak – despite being a year younger – has racked up 89 caps.

“I live with Conor, he's one of my best mates, I'm delighted for him, he's worked incredibly hard and he's got an opportunity against the Dragons and I know that he'll want to push on as well,” Doak stated.

“We take the piss out of each other in the house, so he's coming for me and he's going to push me and that'll only make us both more successful.

“We both want to be playing scrum-half for Ulster, so that's what everyone's goal is.

“Shanners (Dave Shanahan) as well, so we all want to push each other, even with John (Cooney) gone.

“John set a really good precedence of trying to get the best out of ourselves as scrum halves and that's definitely stayed on even though he's left, so nothing's changed in that department, we're all pushing each other to try and make each other better.”

Doak took over the kicking duties from Jack Murphy for the season opener and was happy that Ulster took maximum points against the Welsh region.

“I only found out before the game I was on kicking duty, but I'm always ready,” he explained.

"I love kicking, it's an absolute privilege to kick goals here, so I was delighted with how the kicking went and it was better to get harder ones, so you're not easing your way in.

“It's just a personal preference, it really challenged me, so I was happy with how that went and hopefully can continue on that. I'll probably not say 100% the whole season, but hopefully stay close to it.

“Good bits in it and scrappy bits that we'd want to tidy up, but you're never going to complain with five points at home, we're not trying to be the finished article first game of the season.

“We're just trying to build on this and I think we have some good stuff out there and, like I said, some stuff that I want to tidy up, so that gives us something to review and get after for Edinburgh.

“I suppose there's always going to be a bit of rust, there's always going to be a bit of over-eagerness, especially when you haven't played in four months and just the one friendly.

“That's our second hit out and probably a lot of over-eagerness to right the wrongs from last year as well, but that's what you want, isn't it? You want a bit of eagerness, we want to push on, we want to perform well, so for a season opener, five points, like I said, you'll never complain with that.”

Doak is delighted to reunite with his Ireland U20’s attack coach Mark Sexton, who joined the Ravenhill coaching ticket in the summer.

“Mark's been absolutely brilliant with me, I love working with him, he's pushing me to try and get the best out of me, and I absolutely love it,” he continued.

“There's definitely a change in our attack, it's not going to be perfect on day one like you've seen, but you can sort of see the glimpses of what we're trying to do.

"We scored a first phase set-piece try tonight, going straight to the width, that's something that we probably haven't done in the past, so there's definitely a change and it's probably more challenging, but it's definitely going to make us a better team, a more threatening team and that's what everyone wants here.

“We want to be playing attacking rugby with loads of detail and physical as well, so by no means a finished article.”