THE BOYS dug deep for a brilliant win against Leinster last week and fingers crossed they can repeat the trick tonight to take another Irish scalp at Ulster.

We needed the victory at Rodney Parade a week ago after our European Challenge Cup disappointment at Sale and the team produced the goods.

It was a bit of a nightmare for me personally with another soft tissue injury when doing the very last defensive drill forcing me to pull out late on in the warm-up. I’m still out and to be honest I want to move on swiftly from it, because I’m fed up talking about it.

Instead I want to concentrate on what was a great win against what was a strong Leinster side.

I’d heard in the build-up that they were missing loads of players but when we looked at the teamsheet it was still full of quality with the likes of Ben Te’o, Dominic Ryan, Jordi Murphy, Ian Madigan, Richardt Strauss, Fergus McFadden, Isaac Boss… Not only are they very good players but they are individuals who always perform really well for Leinster; they never just go through the motions.

So to go up against a strong team who are challenging for the Guinness Pro12 title and come away with a win while denying them a bonus point was a great effort.

The boys had to show real defensive steel when under pressure early in the second half but didn’t concede a try in that spell when camped on our own line.

That was a great effort and full credit to the pack after the pre-match disruption and having to play with a lock in the back row.

We had done some preparations for that because my situation early on in the week, but being called up last minute is not the easiest thing, especially when not your natural position.

In fairness the 'not so nice' conditions that we are now so used to on a Friday night at the Parade probably helped us for the first time ever.

Even though Rynard loved playing in the back row and Cory Hill enjoyed having 8 on his back rather than 5, it was a horrible night where having another second row workhorse on the field suited us.

But fair play to the boys, they adapted really well and got the job done with flying colours. Thankfully we’ve got specialists in the back row for the trip to Belfast and it’s a big couple of weeks for us with Ulster followed by Connacht in Newport, two teams who are at the top of the table.

We need to start climbing the Pro12 and we can go into tonight’s game in a positive mood thanks to the Leinster performance.

Ulster are always strong on their own patch and have the luxury of some quality foreign players who are key figures when they lose some influential Ireland internationals.

We need to keep an eye on the likes of Ruan Pienaar and Nick Williams but we always mention them as threats and that's what having big names on the teamsheet does.

Buying quality players with formidable reputations take your focus away from yourselves, and we need to focus on our own game and not be reactive as a team.

For us to improve our table positioning, we need to start matching our home performances and produce a consistent form outside of Gwent. We have a challenging run in over the next few weeks but certainly one where we can gain valuable points in the league.

On another note, mine and Ashley Smith’s first beneficiary event held at the Celtic Manor with Dan Lydiate and Shane Williams taking shape after a lot of planning.

It's fantastic that Ash and I have had such good support in supporting the event. The evening should be an entertaining one on Saturday, March 5 and will be helping to support local charity St David’s Hospice.

We look forward to announcing our next event at Rodney Parade in the build-up to our European quarter-final against Gloucester in April.