Heineken Champions Cup: ‘Thrill of highs and lows’ make for big Belfast European night

Ulster coach Dan McFarland says the “thrills of highs and lows” should make for another exciting European occasion against Toulouse at Kingspan Stadium.

“The atmosphere is going to be awesome, it’ll be a brilliant night,” said McFarland.

“Hopefully it will turn out to be a good spectacle with us winning.”

“We’ve had some really good days and nights here – there’s something special about European fixtures here in Belfast. I’d expect exactly the same this time round,” added the Ulster head coach.

“There is so much at stake and the opposition is so good and has the potential to play some exciting rugby.

“It’s that thrill of the highs and lows that are possible in games like this that make it so exciting for fans and so terror-stricken for coaches.”

The prize of a home tie against either Exeter or Munster awaits the winners of the two-legged tie in the quarter-finals of Europe’s premier club competition.

“The rewards are such at the end of it, the goal is so big, that the emotional side of things looks after itself in a game like this,”McFarland continued.

“We’ve got to be very focused on what we are trying to achieve – that’s being clear about who we are, what we’re about and the improvements we are going to make and any nuances in our play we’re going to put in.

“There’s no need to remind the guys that it’s a European knockout with a home quarter-final at stake against a massive opposition.

“The emotion will be there and the emotion is important in rugby.

“It’s a sport that does well with passion because of the nature of the physicality of the game, what players have to put themselves through.

“It can be a big motivating factor. It’s not something that has to be driven on a week like this.”