THE situation is quite clear for Ulster this Saturday: beat Harlequins at Twickenham Stoop (1pm, live on TNT Sport) and they are into the last 16 of the European Champions Cup.

Dan McFarland’s side head into their final Pool 2 game in fourth place and they know that should they be overtaken, they will drop into the Challenge Cup.

Therefore, there is plenty at stake in London as they can be overtaken by fifth-place Racing 92 who sit two points behind and host bottom side Cardiff in Paris on Saturday evening.

There is even a chance the Welsh club could haul themselves up into fourth with bonus point victory in France along with Ulster failing to win or claim two losing bonus points.
If teams are equal on points, pool position will be decided by points difference.

Those permutations will not come into play should Ulster get the job done on the road, but it is not an easy assignment as they face a Quins side in fine form having won their last three in all competitions and who are already through to the knockout stage in the competition, but they too have plenty to play for as a bonus point win could see them secure a home tie in the last 16.

“This weekend is about excitement, building an excitement for the game and take it back to why we all play rugby and the nerves of why we love knock-out rugby,” said team captain Iain Henderson this week.

“The guys know they can do it, we have to go back to the drawing board, we need to learn and understand the threats Harlequins will pose.”

Ulster find themselves on a tightrope having lost two of their three European games to date including last weekend’s 48-24 reverse to a star-studded Toulouse at Kingspan Stadium.

At this level, the smallest mistake is punished and that was the case against the French outfit with the exceptional Antoine Dupont leading the way.

The manner of that loss hurt, but Henderson insists they must push it to one side and get ready for this weekend’s trip to London.

“Toulouse were able to capitalise on every opportunity we gave them, that gave them a lot of flow in their game and we couldn’t stop them,” he reflected.

“We are focused on this game, every game we want consistency and to win every game. We started the second half off well and there were patches in that half where we looked like we could do some damage but we coughed up moments to give them tries.

“Toulouse are a very good side, they played very well. Sometimes you lose some and its one where we just have to take it on the chin.

“I want to see guys enjoying training, enjoying what we do, you can see when the guys are enjoying it on the pitch and what they do.

“You can see guys get down on themselves sometimes and it can ruin the whole week after a game like that and you don’t want that to snowball into the next week.

“As a senior player I remind the guys you don’t lose how good you are over one weekend. You go back to the drawing board and have the confidence to go and get a good performance. We want to provoke a reaction this Saturday.”

Ulster have enjoyed success at The Stoop in recent times, thrashing the Premiership side 57-21 in the Challenge Cup back into the 2020/21 season.

Undoubtedly, they will face a much sterner test this week with fly-half Marcus Smith in fine form, whilst flanker, Will Evans and back row, Alex Dombrandt are also major threats.

Ulster will be without Sean Reffell (groin) and Dave Ewers (concussion) who both picked up those injuries against Toulouse, while an elbow injury to Rob Herring is likely to keep him out for a lengthy spell.