Ulster Rugby Head Coach Dan McFarland

Ulster suffered a first home loss to Connacht in over 60 years earlier in the season.

Ulster’s form has been good in recent weeks with two wins in the European Champions Cup putting them well placed in Pool Four to make the knockout stages for the first time since 2014.

And home PRO14 wins over Cardiff Blues and most recently last Friday against Munster has Ulster sitting in second place in Conference B.

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Connacht have also enjoyed a decent run of form, including back-to-back wins over Perpignan in the European Challenge Cup.

In terms of selection, Ulster are awaiting on return to play protocols for John Cooney, James Hume and Kyle McCall who all came off under HIA regulations in the 19-12 win over Munster.

McFarland would offer little to his thoughts regarding selection for the trip to Galway, but he said he wanted his side to win.

“It was important to start this series of fixtures with a win over Munster, I am happy about that,” said McFarland.

“We have two more big derbies to come plus two huge European Cup games so our strength and depth will be tested.

“We lost at home to Connacht. You do not want to have teams doing the double on ya.

“I know they are not in our conference just from the point of view, or me, I do not want them doing the double on us.

“I want to go to Galway next week and win. Is that going to be easy, absolutely not, they are playing some really good rugby at the moment. It is going to be a tough ask.”

Connacht almost pulled off a first ever win at the RDS over Leinster, put saw a 17-point lead disappear in the closing minutes to just three points.