Juarno

The win over Munster was Ward’s seventh Ulster appearance, an occasion the former Ireland under-20 international marked with his first senior try.

As he seeks to establish himself at the Affidea Stadium, there has at least been one familiar face already in the team.

Ward’s brother Zac, an Irish Olympian in rugby sevens at Paris two summers ago, made his own breakthrough for the side last season.

The older of the siblings has five tries from the wing already during this campaign and again caught the eye against Munster.

“We’ve grown up together playing in the back yard and stuff so to now be out there in front of 16,500 in a sold-out Affidea, it’s pretty surreal,” said the back row of playing alongside the brother six years his senior.

“Watching him throughout the sevens and stuff, whenever I was in school and just coming out of school, he’s definitely been really influential on me. It’s just nice to have a familiar face around the place as well and its class to play with him as well.

“I dropped the ball out there and he was the first one to come over and give me a pat on the bum and say, ‘keep your head’, so it’s been really good.”

The younger of the Ward brothers, who are the sons of former Ulster captain Andy Ward, is not the only inexperienced player to make an impact in recent weeks with locks Joe Hopes and Charlie Irvine also playing meaningful minutes.

With the likes of Stuart McCloskey, Iain Henderson, Nick Timoney and Jacob Stockdale around them, Ward believes it has been hugely beneficial to be able to lean on the advice of Test players as they make the step up.

“The biggest thing probably is the speed of the game. Physically, I’ve been playing for Ballynahinch in the AIL [All-Ireland League], so it’s obviously a step up physically when you’re playing South African teams and big interpros.

“It’s definitely just the pace of the game, you’ve got to be so switched on and defensively you’ve always got your head on a swivel.

“Having guys in the club that have so much experience, it’s so good for the young boys coming through that they can give us such a help to make the jump.”

Ulster back row Juarno Augustus will be sidelined “for a number of weeks” because of the ankle ligament injury he sustained in the United Rugby Championship win over Connacht in Galway.

Augustus left the field midway through the second half of his team’s 29-24 success at Dexcom Stadium and Ulster say the damage is “significant”.

The former Northampton Saints number eight has initially been ruled out of Friday’s URC match with Munster in Belfast.

Meanwhile Ethan McIlroy’s injury woe has continued as he faces a further spell out of action after picking up a rib injury in Ballynahinch’s Senior Cup Final victory over Instonians.

Eric O’Sullivan (hamstring), Matthew Dalton (knee), Iain Henderson (back) and Rob Herring (knee) have all resumed team training and their availability for selection will be assessed through training this week.

Ulster sit fifth in the URC table, three points below second-placed Munster, so have the opportunity to leapfrog their Irish interprovincial rivals in the table with a win at Affidea Stadium.