Ulster's failure to do themselves justice in last season's Pro14 semi-final gives them motivation to be more competitive against Edinburgh on Saturday, says coach Dan McFarland.

"Last year's semi-final was very disappointing. We want to give it a better shot this time, put in a better performance," said McFarland.

"There's a hunger in the squad that we want to give it our best shot."

He added: "While we didn't play as well as we could have done that day we were beaten by a Glasgow side who were excellent in that game. I don't know if we would have won even if we had been at our best.

"The task in front of us is a difficult one as away sides have won only twice in Pro14 semi-finals, the Scarlets on both occasions, so we know the difficulty of what lies ahead of us."

Ulster go into this weekend's last-four encounter at Murrayfield on the back of interprovincial defeats by Connacht and Leinster in Dublin, having already qualified for the semi-finals by virtue of finishing second in Conference A.

"It's odd in the sense that we are not going into such an important match at the end of a string of games but it's a reward for all the work we have put in to get us into the position where we have a semi-final to play," said the Ulster head coach.

"We experienced reaching this position last year after winning a home quarter-final [21-13 over Connacht] and we want to have another go at it.

"It's a pretty unique season but we're relishing the opportunity we have carved out for ourselves.

"The effort, spirit and attitude we showed at the weekend against Leinster were of the kind that saw us take second in our conference but the thing we didn't see was accuracy - unforced turnovers and some silly penalties given away which meant we couldn't sustain any pressure in the game."

Edinburgh form under Cockerill 'impressive'

Edinburgh's revival under coach Richard Cockerill saw them finish at the summit of Conference B after ending in fifth position in their group the previous season.

"You could legitimately say Edinburgh and Leinster have been the standout teams in the competition this year," said former Scotland assistant coach McFarland.

"Richard has built their squad with some quality international players, including some who are not Scottish qualified.

"You only have to look at the table to see how well they have done. Leinster are the team to beat but Edinburgh are not far behind them.

"The development of their game has been very impressive, they play to their strengths and they have recruited some fantastic back-three players."

Win would represent 'significant improvement'

Given that Ulster reached the last four of the Pro14 and the quarter-finals of the Champions Cup in their last campaign, McFarland's men will be hoping to improve on that by securing victories against Edinburgh and in the upcoming European last-eight tie away to Toulouse on 20 September.

"I want to win this game but I'll be looking more at the performance we put in on the field and how we got here over the course of the season to see if we have made improvement or not," said McFarland.

"Improvement is marked on wins and results but there are a number of variables along the way that you can't control.

"Significant improvement would be measured by a win however."