Ulster’s Werner Kok believes the side’s struggles this season are an opportunity to show their character.
The province have lost their past five games and have just three wins from their 10 fixtures this season.
Sat 11th in the United Rugby Championship table after Friday’s loss to Munster, they face Connacht in Galway on Saturday seeking a first win since October.
“It is tough,” said Kok, who joined the side from the Sharks in the summer.
“I’ve been in this situation before, you can’t really worry about what’s on the outside and what other people say. It becomes more internal now and it actually brings out the character in the team.
“It is easy to see good character and good fight if it’s going well, and it really brings out the boys’ fight and character when it’s not going that well. It’s going to test us now.”
Ulster have already beaten Connacht this season, coming out on top 32-27 when the teams met in Belfast, but Kok says they will need to be more clinical in attack this week than they were against Munster if they are to win in Galway.
“I haven’t been there yet but I’ve heard it’s pretty tough,” he added.
“It’s another Irish derby, so we’ll sit down and see where we can improve but there are a lot of positives and whenever we get into the 22, we just have to get more points and we just have to take the game to them.”