Hitting the ground running without a pre-season of fixtures - or mid-season given the circumstances - in the legs is a challenge Ulster and other sides will have to confront over the next two weeks.
While intra-squad matches have been played in training, the Irish provinces go straight into key Guinness Pro14 inter-pros in quick succession.
For Ulster, they start off against Connacht on Sunday at an empty Aviva Stadium and that need to hit a high level straight away is something their head coach Dan McFarland has been factoring into his side's preparation.
"We've addressed that in the way we've gone into our pre-season as best as we can and we had a good hit out on Saturday that was physically tough," he said.
"But nonetheless it doesn't represent playing an opposition as ferocious as Connacht are going to be at the weekend.
"It's a little bit of unknown territory but we'll be ready."
The other unknown is how his players will handle the unfamiliar surroundings of an empty stadium on a matchday.
"We definitely chat about it. It's not something that we'll sit down and have an hour long meeting about," said McFarland.
"We've done a lot of our training in the last six weeks inside Kingspan Ravenhill and it's empty. So we're used to being able to perform under pressure in empty stadia.
"But obviously at the weekend it will be different because it will be on TV and we're in the Aviva.
"One of the big points for us, as you would do as an away team and they have their own crowd, you want to be taking your own atmosphere with you. It's almost a circling of the wagons and feeding off each other and connecting with each other on the pitch.
"So that's what we've focused on and we're looking at this week as an approach to playing at an empty stadium."
Follow Leinster v Munster (7.35pm, Saturday) and Connacht v Ulster (4.30pm, Sunday) via our live blogs on RTÉ.ie/sport and the News Now app, or listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1
