Nick ​Timoney optimistic over Ulster progress heading into Munster

Ulster's Nick Timoney. (Photo by Liam McBurney/PA Wire)

Ulster go into the final weekend of the season away at Munster with the second lowest turnovers won in the league - only 81 so far in 17 domestic games – while they have conceded possession on 192 occasions.

However, there were signs of improvement in the victory over Leinster as Ulster won eight turnovers and only conceded six. But Timoney knows against the Munster back row there is another huge test of ground work coming.

“Let alone their forwards, even their backs are pretty good threats at the breakdown and that’s an area we’ve had a few ups and downs with during the year,” said Timoney. “But in our attacking side of the ball we’re definitely improving that in the last few weeks and I’m not sure what the stats say but they’re going in the right direction.

“That would be huge for us in our attack shape, getting our breakdown right and keeping them out of the game, keeping them out of our half as well and, on the other side of the ball, looking for those opportunities.

"And certainly the better we can defend and not give them easy line breaks or edges or whatever, hopefully, the opportunities will come.

“We’ve been a bit sloppy in large parts of the season in our attacking breakdown in terms of just the accuracy of things really, who’s meant to be going where and our timings and exactly what we’re trying to achieve...I think over the last six to eight weeks that’s been a big area of focus for us.

“Roddy (Grant) and Richie (Murphy) have taken a bit of a lead on that and just making sure we’re all on the exact same page and I think we’re tidying it up week by week and certainly that’s what it feels like, it’s still something we’re training hard so, hopefully, it keeps on for this weekend.”

Murphy has the luxury of naming the same starting line-up that beat Leinster for the trip to Thomond Park.

After putting their early and mid-season woes behind them with four straight wins, Timoney feels Ulster are in a good position going into the URC playoffs.

He added: “I almost think it’s been such a weird season it’s almost a great place to be going into a playoff from...you’re probably saying people don’t expect a whole lot from us, which is nice and maybe they haven’t expected a lot from us in the last few years.

"But I feel like when you’ve had some really strong seasons, which we’ve had, when you’ve been second in the league table the whole season and you come to the playoffs and, as much as we didn’t finish top, you could still be somewhat of a target on your backs and people still have been wary of playing you and rightly so.

“I’d say there’s a chance that we’ve probably not been given much of a sniff so I think, as Munster showed last year, you can go away from home three games in a row and win, it’s not impossible.

“They were probably in somewhat of a similar place to where we are now so I think, again as we saw at the weekend in the Champions and Challenge Cups, anything can happen and it’s a clean slate once you get into a knockout game...it’s whoever shows up on the day sometimes.”

Munster v Ulster (BKT United Rugby Championship, round 18, Thomond Park; live on RTE, Premier Sports, BBC Radio Foyle, URC.tv): (15-9) Ethan McIlroy, Mike Lowry, Will Addison, Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale, Billy Burns, John Cooney; (1-8) Eric O’Sullivan, Rob Herring, Tom O’Toole, Kieran Treadwell, Alan O’Connor (captain), Cormac Izuchukwu, David McCann, Nick Timoney. Replacements: Tom Stewart, Andy Warwick, Scott Wilson, Harry Sheridan, Matty Rea, Nathan Doak, Stewart Moore, Jude Postlethwaite.