McFarland looking forward to Toulouse test
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Friday night will see familiar foes in Ulster and Toulouse battle it out in the opening round of the Champions Cup.
Ulster have enjoyed measured success in the competition as of late, reaching the quarter-final stage in consecutive seasons.
Their French opponents have loftier ambitions having fallen at the semi-final stage in both the 2018/19 and 2019/20 competitions.
The French giants have won Europe’s elite tournament on four occasions, but it has now been a decade since their last victory in 2010.
Toulouse’s opening game of their Heineken Champions Cup campaign this year will see them travel to the 1999 winners, in a re-run of last season’s quarter-final that saw the French side win 36-8.
South African Rynhardt Elstadt admitted there is an added pressure on Toulouse because they have such a successful history in the Heineken Champions Cup.
“Yes, definitely, for sure [there’s a sense of pressure],” he explained.
“I think it was the same with the Top 14 – they haven’t won it since 2012 and you could have felt the pressure from the outside.
“Same for the European Cup, they haven’t won it for a very long time – I think it’s kind of due, for the team to win it sometime soon again.”
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— Ulster Rugby (@UlsterRugby) December 8, 2020
Hear the thoughts of Head Coach Dan McFarland ahead of this Friday's game as the @ChampionsCup returns πͺ
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Ulster Rugby head coach Dan McFarland added: “We’re obviously in a good position and there’s a good feeling that comes with the confidence that you get from winning,” explained McFarland.
“But we’re also under no illusion that playing during international windows in domestic competitions – it doesn’t matter what domestic competition it is – is different to playing in Heineken Champions Cup games out of international windows.”
Ulster's Round 2 game will see them travel to Kingsholm to face Gloucester. Gloucester will take on Ulster Rugby for the first time in the competition since the 2007/08 season, when the English club ran in five unanswered tries to secure a memorable 29-21 victory and secure a place in the quarter-finals.
Toulouse's Round 2 clash will see them host Exeter Chiefs at Stade Ernest Wallo.
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