United Rugby Championship: Ulster ready for 'class' Connacht - Jared Payne
- Published
Watch: Connacht too strong as Ulster suffer first defeat of season
Ulster defence coach Jared Payne coach says they will face a "very dangerous" Connacht side in the Boxing Day derby.
Connacht sit nine points behind third-placed Ulster in the URC but they won the last game between the sides at the Aviva Stadium in October.
"They are class as a team at the moment - very dangerous and very aggressive in defence," said Payne.
"They've grown massively as a team and are playing well. They put teams under pressure and have lots of variety. "
He added: "They're dangerous the way they defend, dangerous with the variety they can play, whether it be starter plays and they've got nice little phase options as well.
"They've got a good fella in (Jack) Carty who can pin you back in your own half so they are a dangerous team at the moment."
Belfast victory over Saints
Ulster go into the Kingspan game on the back of Friday's 27-22 win over Northampton Saints in the Champions Cup while Connacht lost 29-23 to an in-form Leicester Tigers on Sunday.
Connacht inflicted Ulster's first defeat of the season with Mack Hansen scoring two tries in the 36-11 victory in Dublin two months ago.
Payne made 78 appearances for Ulster before retiring in 2018
Payne believes Ulster have improved since the heavy defeat at the hands of their Irish rivals.
"We are definitely making strides in some areas - we've been a lot better in some of our attack shape, working pretty hard and giving ourselves options.
"You saw some of that on Friday. We scored a great try early on in the game. Some of our defensive work, we keep our spacing very well so we're making small steps in the right direction.
"Things can change. We have addressed how we navigate the momentum and emotion of a game, good or bad.
"When we're up against it, what we do as a group, when it's going well for us to try to have processes in place to help the guys.
"It's going in the right direction but there'll be ups and downs. I'm sure we'll get tested by Connacht."