Nathan Doak prepared for new challenge of playing on Ulster's 3G pitch in first home game of season at Kingspan Stadium

As a scrum half the pitch will have a pivotal role for Doak, whose job is to arrive at the breakdown quickly and get the ball away at pace, box kick and take shots at goal off the tee.

Despite only having a few training sessions on the artificial deck, Doak is ready for the challenge.

“In training when there’s no contact it is a lot quicker, so in the game it is a wee bit slower,” he said. “Hopefully training will hold me in good stead and I can get the ball out quick enough with no-one shouting at me.

“I think as a team we’ve kind of changed slightly and we’re trying to do things a bit quicker this year, which is exciting.

“So, maybe it has changed a wee bit because of the pitch but I still think the fundamentals are the same – we want to play exciting rugby for fans to get excited about.

“Hopefully, we’ll get some decent weather at the weekend so the pitch and that together will hopefully show that.”

Doak says he has had to tinker with his goal-kicking technique.

“I was a wee bit worried about my kicking tee being a wee bit higher on the artificial [pitch] which I found on a few of the other surfaces, but this one seems to be alright,” he added.

“Place kicking is still figuring out what’s going on with that but the rest of it is quite nice, the bounce of the ball is maybe a wee bit different but hopefully it goes our way this week.”

Ulster and the Bulls scored 103 points between them on the opening weekend – including a combined 15 tries – and with the new 3G surface, Sunday could see another high scoring game.

However, Doak wants the defence to be tighter than it was in Zebre.

“Hopefully we can contain the Bulls, they’re a good side and they put 63 on the Scarlets so it’s going to be challenging,” Doak said.

"But that’s probably the best test for us coming in. Obviously, we’re disappointed with our defence and we want to go up against someone where we are going to get challenged again.

“It’s really exciting for us to see where we’re at. The Bulls are a top side and have shown it over the last couple of years. It will be really exciting for us in D (defence) and attack and hopefully we can continue our form in that and see a bit more rugby.”

Jake Flannery started at out-half in Zebre with Billy Burns sprung from the bench and Doak enjoys having either as his half back partner.

“We’ve got a really good group of 10s and I’ve been involved at 10 as well, so I’m pretty close to them,” he said. “We’re all on the same page and we all have similar ideas, so there’s no difference playing with either of them to be honest.

“It’s kind of exciting playing with them both; they’re both different players and they drive the team really well, so for me as a half back it’s just feeding those guys and listening to them, and whoever is playing for me doesn’t really change much as I enjoy playing with both of them.”