Jason Harries believes Cardiff Blues need to build their own culture when they travel to Kingspan Stadium on Friday for a crucial Guinness PRO14 encounter against Ulster.
The wing is set for his first appearance of the campaign out in Belfast, as Wales’ Capital Region look to get back to winning ways after back-to-back defeats to Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors.
The former Wales Sevens international is expecting a lively atmosphere at the Northern Irish capital, but believes his side must focus on themselves and not get distracted by the Kingspan Stadium crowd.
Harries said: “It’s going to be a very hostile place and they’ve got a really good following.
“I remember going there last year, and they had couple of players like Rory Best and Jacob Stockdale coming back from international duty and coming off the bench after about 60 minutes.
“The amount of noise they made when those boys came on the pitch, you could really feel it on the pitch.
“We’ll have to build our own culture, and our own noise, when we get out there.
“When some of the boys are away on international duty, it’s up to the rest of the squad to step up and keep the team moving forward in the right direction.”
Wales’ Capital Region will be travelling to Belfast looking for a first victory since 2010 in Northern Ireland.
Harries believes his side will have to produce a complete performance in order to stand chance of victory against Ulster, and says every point will be crucial on Friday evening.
The wing added: “It’s going to be a tough challenge going out there on Friday night. We know the threats they pose and it’s going to be a very physical game.
“On our behalf, we need to make sure we match that and probably go even better if we want to come away with that win.
“When we get into opposition territory, and the 22 in particular, we need to be coming away with points during critical points of the game.
“We do build enough momentum and pressure, but and it’s about taking points when they’re on offer.
“We’ll have to be on our mettle for the full 80 minutes.
“It was good to go to South Africa and come away with the full five points. The Kings aren’t an easy task, and it’s never an easy game away to teams like that.
“They posed big threats and it was good to get the five points over there.
“We let ourselves down back at the Arms Park against Edinburgh, especially in front of our own crowd.
“We nearly got there against Glasgow and that shows the importance of taking the points at critical times.
“We’re there or thereabouts but there’s some finer details which we can hopefully get right, leading into Ulster on Friday.”