Michael Lowry celebrates Lions win as mark of Ulster progress

Ulster had lost all three games in the Rainbow Nation last season before the weekend 39-37 success over Emirates Lions.

Dan McFarland’s side scored five tries in a bonus point victory against the Lions at the iconic Ellis Park.

However, Ulster had to survive a nervy last quarter as the Johannesburg outfit fought back from an 18-point deficit.

But Ulster survived to hold on by two points and make it four bonus point wins in their opening five games.

“I think it has shown how far we have come as a team and I think we have grown a lot over the last season,” said the full back following the Ulster success over the Lions. “I think we have learned from past experiences to come out here and get a great win against a great drilled side in the Lions.

“It was an absolute privilege to play at Ellis Park as well, there is a lot of history and it is something special that we’ll remember for a long time.”

Not surprisingly, the heat and altitude made it a difficult test for Ulster.

“It is certainly one of the toughest games I’ve played...especially in the lungs.

"And it was incredible physicality, we have a lot to improve on but we can be really happy with how we came out in the second half.

“That 15 minutes after half-time...I was incredibly proud with how we dealt with the Lions pressure.

"And we turned pressure into points on our behalf, which was really pleasing.

“We can be a bit disappointed with the end...I don’t know if that was the altitude kicking in.

"We said at the start of the week we won’t be going to have any excuses about altitude or heat.

“We say it all the time about fighting for every inch, but we had to dig in because the Lions were going to come out firing and we did that and got the historical win out in Ellis Park.”

Ulster now travel to Durban to face a star-studded Sharks.

“Every week is a new and different challenge, the weather is a bit more humid in Durban but, thankfully, we are down at sea level that will help the lungs to recover.

“The Sharks have incredibly gifted players, they have a lot Springbok internationals, so we’ll have to prepare like we have done over here already because it is going to be another physical test.”

Ulster went into the break with a trailing 18-15.

Robert Baloucoune crossed early with John Cooney converting.

Giainni Lombard and Cooney exchanged penalties before Francke Horn and Emmanuel Tshituka crossed for the Lions.

Home centre Henco van Wyk was yellow-carded on 38 minutes and Ulster profited by scoring three tries either side of half-time from Billy Burns, Rob Lyttle and Stuart McCloskey.

Robert Herring added another try, the Lions scored two tries before an insurance penalty from Nathan Doak and another try for the home side.