WHEN Ulster run out at the Swansea.com Stadium on Sunday to face Ospreys (3pm, live on Viaplay) it will be one day short of seven weeks since their last fixture in the URC.

That was a thrilling win over Leinster at the RDS that leaves them in fifth place, three points ahead of their hosts this weekend.

Of course, there have been a pair of disappointing defeats in the European Champions Cup to Toulouse and Harlequins which means it is the secondary Challenge Cup to plan for in April.

However, it's domestic matters that are the immediate priority with just six points separating the teams from fourth to 11th in the table.

Ulster will have designs of moving up rather than looking over their shoulder, so with the mid-season break due to the Six Nations now complete, getting off to a good start against the Welsh club is of the utmost importance. 

"It feels like a long time ago, from the Harlequins match and we have moved on," said Ulster Rugby Assistant Coach, Dan Soper. 

"We had a tough week, we came in after the defeat, there was obvious disappointment with everyone, but we have had a couple of good weeks training and that’s in the past now. We'll take our learnings from it and now we are just excited to get started into the second phase of our season.

"We could be better and we will going after the second half of the season to climb the league into the home play-off positions.

"We know if we want to be a top four team, we need to improve. We are being realistic about that and are not kidding ourselves, some parts of our game haven’t been good enough but we are all excited to get going at the weekend.”

Ospreys head into the fixture in fine form, with four wins in their last four matches in all competitions with Morgan Morse, Keelan Giles and Jack Walsh in fine form this season.

They have also been a tough nut to crack on their home patch, winning four from five in the URC, but are bidding to put three wins together for the first time since May 2022.

Ulster will be well aware of the challenges in Swansea, having lost there last season 19-13, so nothing less than an excellent performance will do. 

“I think they are the in-form Welsh team at the moment, their record at home is really impressive, when you look at them as a team, they are really impressive and they understand what they want to do and how they want to play," Soper added.

"It’s going to be a difficult afternoon for us, I’m certain about that but we are all really excited for the challenge.”