Dan Soper wants Ulster to keep the pursuit for a home quarter-final in the URC in their own hands starting with Saturday's rearranged fixture against the Sharks in Durban.
Ulster currently lie in third place in the table following last week's 17-11 defeat by Glasgow and the assistant coach insists they do not want to have to rely on other teams in the battle for places for the end-of-season play-offs.
"For the neutral the league is exciting but it is still in our control," said Soper.
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"If we go and perform and win games we should be in a position to get a home quarter-final.
"If we don't perform we're relying on results elsewhere and that's never a nice place to be.
"The Sharks have some dangerous players, powerful players, and they have a real line speed to their defence so it'll be a challenge for us.
"We weren't clinical enough against Glasgow so we've been addressing that and some other things. We can follow the Italy v Ireland game after our match has finished. Before that our focus will be firmly on what we do on Saturday afternoon."
Saturday's game was initially scheduled for October before being called off because Ulster were hit by a gastroenteritis bug.
The province has already won in South Africa this season when they recorded a 39-37 victory over the Emirates Lions.
They can expect to face challenging temperatures in the 'Shark Tank' but Soper feels their previous experiences will stand them in good stead.
"The players will have learnt from previous trips [to South Africa] so it definitely becomes less of an issue," he said.
"The more you do it you get used to it and you can adapt, the travel and the humidity, you know what to expect.
"It's a challenge but the medical team and athletic performance team have advised us and we'll be well ready for the game on Saturday afternoon."
Springbok Duane Vermeulen will lead the Ulster men in the Number Eight jersey in one of 10 changes to the side that lost to Glasgow.
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