DEFENCE COACH WILLIE Faloon believes Ulster can end this initial URC block by making it four wins from four, along with a clean sweep from their two-game tour to South Africa, when they come up against the Lions in Johannesburg on Saturday.

The northern province have, so far, been the season’s surprise package – they do have a game in hand against Edinburgh due to Storm Amy – and put down a significant marker last weekend by dismissing the Sharks in Durban.

“It would be a brilliant return for us,” Faloon said of potentially signing off for the November Test window with yet another victory and a third over South African opposition after defeating the Bulls in Belfast.

“The lads have worked really hard, and you can see that in their performances, their desire, and the big efforts made.

“I think it (beating the Lions) would be a statement for our squad,” Faloon admitted though Ulster are now without Ireland squad members Iain Henderson, Nick Timoney, Jacob Stockdale and Stuart McCloskey who were all involved at the Shark Tank while South African Juarno Augustus remains a doubt.

While admitting that being down frontline performers is less than ideal, Faloon insisted that this provides even greater incentive for those stepping up for selection.

“You’re losing four lads (to Ireland) who have lots of IQ and are big leaders around the group, so it is disruptive.

“For our squad to deliver a performance as good (as last weekend) would also be a huge statement,” he added in the wake of Marcus Rea, Bryn Ward, Ben Carson and Charlie Irvine hooking up with the travelling party.

“For us to go out and get a win would be brilliant.”

This week the tourists will be contending with different climatic conditions as they have left the coast for Johannesburg’s altitude.

“It’s a tough place to go,” said Faloon.

“There’s going to be heat, and there’s going to be altitude in play.

“We’re only going to have one session and a captain’s run. So, I don’t think there’s going to be any opportunity to acclimatise to it, but a lot of the guys have played at altitude before, so they have a bit of an idea of what’s coming.”

On the pitch, Faloon expects another typically physical clash though clearly the Lions do not possess the numbers of Springboks who turned out for a full-on Sharks.

“I think it’s a similar enough challenge in regard to they’ve (the Lions) got a strong set-piece and I imagine they’re going to use that to their advantage.”