Ulster prop Marty Moore warns no room for error against Scarletts

However, Dan McFarland’s side have lost three of their last four games in the United Rugby Championship including against Munster in their last outing, when Ulster played against 14 men for 66 minutes and came out on the wrong end of a 18-13 score line.

Ulster are back in domestic action on Friday night as the Scarlets visit Kingspan Stadium, and prop Marty Moore knows with Ulster sitting third in the table there is now little margin for error coming into the business end of the season.

“We have spoke about it, this is a big part of our year now the Six Nations period, especially with games that won’t scheduled,” said the Ireland prop.

“We have five games that could make or break our ambitions in the league this year and we’re going to do it with some of our squad away.

“That responsibility lies with the rest of us that are here, and it is a challenge that we kind of look forward to taking on as a group.

“There is no room for error. It is getting to the business end of the season in the league and the champions cup, and we are very aware of that and hopefully we can get the results to put us in a good position come the spring.”

South African Jaco Peyper will be the man in the middle with the whistle, but Moore doesn’t think having a southern hemisphere referee will effect the scrum too much.

“I don’t think that there is anything relevant to us in our approach, we won’t be changing anything for the sake of a referee.

“They will be looking at the same pictures that the guys up here would be looking at,” he said.

“He’ll want a good contest and like all referees he’ll want the scrum above the ground and people pushing straight or as close to it, and hopefully we can give him something that he likes.”

Moore penned a new contract with Ulster just before Christmas that will keep him in the province to 2024.

“It’s brilliant, obviously it is a big part as a professional player to have security and be happy where you are playing your rugby, and for me to have that that going forward plays into that.

“It gives me the confidence to go out there and do my thing and to try and improve, to just enjoy where I’m at and not worry about external factors.

“It takes away a lot of the external pressures of where I will be in six months or 12 months, which is the case in the pro game for coaches and players alike.

“I am delighted to nail my future for the next few years to the club and even happier that they want me here,” Moore added.

“I’m very pleased that it is done and done at an early enough stage of the season so I can crack on and not have it interfere with the real stuff that matters.”

Moore believes fellow prop Tom O’Toole and the rest of the Ulster contingent in the Irish squad should be rewarded for their performances by getting game time in the Six Nations.

“Tom and myself are as close as can be as team-mates,” he said.

“It’s the same for all the guys that have gone away to camp - they have put their hands up the last few weeks.

“I’d like to see them push on and get into that match-day squad because they have all earned it with their performances over the last two or three months especially.

“I’d be disappointed if I didn’t see quite a few Ulster men in the green jersey over the coming months.”

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