Pro14: Ulster must 'be smart in the way they play' against Munster - McFarland

Man-of-the-match in the weekend game against Connacht Jordi Murphy with Ulster's captain on the night Alan O'Connor

Ulster head coach Dan McFarland says his team must "be smart in the way they play" against Munster in Saturday's Pro14 interprovincial derby in Belfast.

Both Irish provinces put their unbeaten records in the competition on the line when they meet at Kingspan Stadium.

"We'll need to deal with some pressure. Munster are attacking as well as any team in the league at the moment," warned McFarland.

"We face a technical challenge in the way we will prepare our defence.

"They have undergone a change over the last year and a half and they have varied their plan in the way they play.

"Sometimes they dominate and wear teams down, sometimes it's been more aerial and sometimes they move the ball around with their forwards and have really tested the opposition.

"We face a physical challenge against them, but also a mental one."

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Ulster ended a five-year wait for an away win over one of their interprovincial rivals by beating Connacht at the Sportsground on Sunday, making it nine wins from nine in the Pro14 in the process.

With a trip to fellow unbeaten Conference A side Leinster to follow on 8 January, McFarland and his charges cannot afford to look beyond their encounter with a Munster side whose post-Christmas fixture with the Pro14 champions was called off.

That means Johann van Graan's side, who enjoy a healthy 12-point lead over Connacht at the head of Conference B, will be in action for the first time since their heroic comeback victory away to Clermont Auvergne in the European Champions Cup on 19 December.

"The manner of that victory was impressive but you know that any Munster side is never going to stop fighting right until the end," added McFarland.

"The ability they have to attack and the variety they have in their game was evident in that game.

"There will be times we will have to do the hard yards against them but also when you have the opportunity you have to move the ball."

The announcement last week that the Pro14 season would end in late March with a final between the winners of the two conferences has given an added edge to Ulster's forthcoming games which already had the potential to be season defining given that the province's hopes of progressing in Europe have ended.

McFarland's team then face a new challenge in the form of The Rainbow Cup which will see the involvement of four major South African franchises.

"I don't think it's changed that much. It does make the end of the season a little bit more cramped and there's a little bit of planning in selection to be made with that but really we just churn through the games.

"Every game is an exciting game to play in and a game we want to win."