Dan McFarland has highlighted the need for Ulster to come out of the blocks quickly when they take on Leinster at the RDS this evening.
A slow start at Kingspan Stadium in the corresponding fixture against the United Rugby Championship leaders earlier this season proved costly for McFarland's men.
It is Ulster's only defeat in seven URC fixtures to date and McFarland is hoping they can put the record straight in Dublin, despite him labelling it as "one of the toughest tasks in rugby".
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"We don't like losing at home so there's definitely an element in wanting to redress that," he said.
"We always look at our games against Leinster to take out the positives and for us to try and address the things which didn't quite go as well.
"We know Leinster well as a team, and that night, compared to games in the previous seasons, there were key areas which we didn't get right and we will look to address that this time.
"We came back into the game well that night but we had left ourselves far too much to do.
"So it is pretty clear that we can't afford to start that slowly again.
"I don't think there's a tougher task in club rugby at the moment.
"Leinster have so many quality players, but it's a challenge we absolutely relish."
Victory in Dublin is still fresh in their minds after Ulster's win there last season.
It was the first time they had beaten their rivals in eight years, and McFarland is hoping they produce a similar performance this time around to close the gap at the top of the table.
"We certainly enjoyed winning down there, it doesn't happen very often," he said.
"We believe that we are a team that is able of competing with Leinster and, on our day, get a win.
"You don't want the gap between yourself and the top team to stretch out, that is the bottom line.
"We have got to play it as what it is - 80 minutes of rugby where we are trying to get a win. You want to go into Europe on the back of a win.
"We've got four big games before Christmas, two inter-pros sandwiching two European games.
"We will take each one in turn and the first one just happens to be Leinster."
Both sides have been bolstered with the return of the Irish internationals.
Ulster welcomed captain Iain Henderson back to the fold after the Autumn internationals in last Friday night's 36-15 home victory over Zebre.
"It was brilliant to have him back," said McFarland.
"He looked hungry and had some good bits of play, a couple of nice carries and a charge down which is a trademark of his."
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