MOMEUNTUM may be on their side with three-straight URC wins, but Ulster won't need reminding of how tough a challenge lies ahead when they face Bordeaux for the second time in the Champions Cup on Sunday (12.30pm, live on Premier Sports).

Back in December, the sides met at Ravenhill in a Pool 1 game which saw the French outfit power home in the second period with 26 unanswered points and this time they meet in the knockout phase with Bordeaux having the home advantage.

That pre-Christmas game actually started quite well for Ulster who had gone toe-to-toe with the Top 14 side and led 19-14 at the half with tries from Cormac Izuchukwu, Nick Timoney and Werner Kok.

However, the tide most certainly turned in the second period with a try from the exceptional Damian Penaud opening the floodgates as Bordeaux powered to a 40-19 win.

With Penaud leading the charge once again, not too many will be predicting anything but a repeat win for a side sitting second in their home league, but perhaps Ulster will take heart from their first-half performance in December and will feel they can make inroads to cause what would be a seismic shock at the Stade Chaban-Delmas this week.

“It’s a brilliant stadium, a brilliant place, a massive club with a huge history and we all know the quality that’s over there,” Ulster's forwards coach, Jimmy Duffy said this week.

“I believe they’ve got between 25 and 30 internationals in the squad and people who maybe aren’t internationals, will be.

“They’re an exciting attacking team, a big forward pack, so it’s a massive challenge, but it’s European Cup rugby.

“As players, coaches, staff, fans, it’s where we want to be and we’re really looking forward to getting ourselves over there and showing up.”

One boost for Richie Murphy is the return of James Hume who was removed from the squad which came through against DHL Stormers last Friday on the afternoon of the game due to illness, but Ben Carson (back) and Robert Baloucoune (hamstring) hobbled out of that game and remained sidelined this week.

Despite those injuries, Ulster still came through against the South Africans, grabbing a crucial winning bonus point in the 38-34 when they showed plenty of resilience after a nightmare start when they gave the visitors a 17-0 head start after just eight minutes.

It was nervy at times, but again, Ulster found a way and after a difficult season, putting three consecutive wins together for the first time of the campaign will give them confidence that things are heading in the right direction.

There is no denying the size of the task that lies ahead this week, but Ulster will travel to France with excitement rather than apprehension.

“We see it as a real opportunity,” Duffy added.

“They’re second in the French league at the moment, a brilliant team with brilliant players in a cool part of the world.

“It’s Champions Cup, it’s knockout, it’s exactly where every rugby player or every rugby coach would want to be.

“Putting yourself against the best opposition, that’s where we want to be, so for us we view it as an opportunity.

“We respect them massively. They’ve earned that and they’ve shown why here to see us off in 20 minutes at the end of the game. But you get that with quality opposition. We’re really looking forward to it, really excited and can’t wait to get over.”