Nick Timoney confident Ulster can overcome Munster at Ravenhill by winning battle of the breakdown

Ulster have conceded 27 turnovers in their opening two games and with Munster’s arch poacher Tadhg Beirne making his seasonal debut Timoney knows it is going to be a tough battle to dominate possession.

“If you look at the last couple of games, if we managed to secure the break down a few more times – certainly in the last quarter of the game – we'd have probably won… so it can certainly be the [difference between] winning and losing,” Timoney said.

“Munster obviously have great players in my position and all across the pitch, so it's going to be a tough battle, as it always is, and we need our first win, and yeah, it's obviously a massive game.

“We’ve put together some great stuff in attack but we can't be giving the ball away as easily as we probably have been, so if we can sort of rectify that, our attack's been looking really sharp. So, if we give ourselves more opportunity to attack and hold on to the ball longer, we'll certainly do that.

“There's been lots of work-ons the last couple of games, there's certainly been improvements this week, the last couple of weeks, so there's signs there that if we keep making improvements, we'll be very good, but there's still some work to do that now.”

Beirne starts in the second row for Munster and will captain the side.

Timoney added: “A lot of what Tadhg does is just [through] talent, though and length, and ability to get into positions, and he's strong and he's smart; and he's relentless with it, but certainly you can learn a lot from him – he’s one of the best players in the world.

"It is easier said than done nullifying that but it's something certainly we'll have to focus on.”

Timoney feels the only way to stop Beirne winning jackals is to beat him to the breakdown.

“That’s certainly a big part of today's game,” he said, “winning races and buying time and not letting them get a sniff, because the days of just clearing lads out like him, you're not going to get a chance.

“It's about being really fast, and it's not just him with that monster team: a lot of their forwards, (Alex) Kendellen, (John) Hodnett and (Gavin) Coombs, even some of the front-rowers, they have a lot of threats, even across the back line, so certainly [Ulster need to] break down the massive area, and we'll need to get it right if we're going to have a chance to win.”

With the November internationals on the horizon Timoney – who has featured in Ireland’s last eight internationals – wants to put a marker down.

“We play them more than we play everyone else, as in the other Irish provinces, and certainly you get to know some of them in camp if you're playing with them, or if you're down there even training with them and stuff, and there is that added edge,” he said.

“When the Ireland squads come out there's a good chance it could come down to one of you versus one of them, so those battles are all the way across the pitch.

"And I think even now with the emerging Ireland stuff, and with more people coming through – Irish in their 20s and stuff – that goes the whole way up and down through the squad; from the older lads like me to even the younger lads who are coming through, maybe playing an emerging Ireland tour, or they play Irish 20s, and they'll know their opposite numbers pretty well.

"So it's certainly pretty personal and certainly jobs can feel like they're on the line, definitely.”