Les Kiss says his team must improve if they are to follow up last week's 39-32 home win over Clermont with victory in the return leg at Stade Marcel Michelin on Sunday.
The French giants, who currently top Champions Cup Pool 5 and the Top 14 league, have lost just once in 27 previous European games at home - a daunting prospect for Kiss and his players.
It’s a challenge that the Director of Rugby is well aware of, and one which he says that Ulster must relish.
“It’s an imposing record they have. I think to go there and to try to play within yourself and to play safe, probably isn’t the right way to approach it. Hopefully, if everything goes to plan, we can go out and express ourselves and I’m sure they will want to do that too.
“We know we were poor at times and late in the game we gave them opportunities to get back into it. We have focused on a few areas to improve on this week. The bottom line is, what we delivered last week we should expect of ourselves every time we go out and play. But we’ve got to deliver even better than we did last week.”
Stade Marcel Michelin is renowned as one of the most intimidating venues in European rugby and Kiss expects the Ulster fans to play their part in the spectacle.
“It’s going to be tough. It’s going to be a fantastic atmosphere and we’ve got to embrace it and relish it and play like we can. Their supporters were over last week and were brilliant, we’ll have a lot of supporters in France and they will be brilliant, so it’s going to be a fantastic day.”
Kiss has made just one change to his squad for the match, which could prove vital for Ulster’s chances of progression to the knock-out stages, with Franco van der Merwe selected in the second row in place of the injured Robbie Diack.
“We’ve kept the same team bar that change at lock. Robbie had a blow to the rib cage in the first game (versus Clermont) and he’s got a bit of abdominal trauma so he’ll be out for 2-4 weeks. Franco had a rest last week and it’s a good time for him to come back in. I thought Pete (Browne) did well last week and also Kieran Treadwell put in a superb effort off the bench from half-time.
“During the season so far we’ve had to make a lot more changes from game-to-game so this is a good opportunity to keep it as stable as possible. It’s nice to have a situation where the combinations can work one further week together.”
In contrast to Ulster’s selection, Clermont boss Franck Azéma has included five new faces in his starting XV for the fixture. According to Kiss, the changes could potentially make Clermont even stronger than they were last weekend.
“They have brought in players who will provide massive threats to us, particularly in the backline. When you have players of that calibre coming in - the crazy feet of Isaia Toeava, and Noa Nakaitaci, who just scores try for fun, you know they will be dangerous. They’ve got such depth and they’ve always been able to shift their team about and keep it strong.”
When asked about what points tally Ulster might require to keep in the hunt for qualification to the latter stages of the competition, Kiss said:
“We haven’t discussed that. Every minute matters, every tackle matters every point matters in terms of where we want to get to in the end. I think winning is the first priority. That’s our focus and we’re looking forward to it,” he concluded.
The French giants, who currently top Champions Cup Pool 5 and the Top 14 league, have lost just once in 27 previous European games at home - a daunting prospect for Kiss and his players.
It’s a challenge that the Director of Rugby is well aware of, and one which he says that Ulster must relish.
“It’s an imposing record they have. I think to go there and to try to play within yourself and to play safe, probably isn’t the right way to approach it. Hopefully, if everything goes to plan, we can go out and express ourselves and I’m sure they will want to do that too.
“We know we were poor at times and late in the game we gave them opportunities to get back into it. We have focused on a few areas to improve on this week. The bottom line is, what we delivered last week we should expect of ourselves every time we go out and play. But we’ve got to deliver even better than we did last week.”
Stade Marcel Michelin is renowned as one of the most intimidating venues in European rugby and Kiss expects the Ulster fans to play their part in the spectacle.
“It’s going to be tough. It’s going to be a fantastic atmosphere and we’ve got to embrace it and relish it and play like we can. Their supporters were over last week and were brilliant, we’ll have a lot of supporters in France and they will be brilliant, so it’s going to be a fantastic day.”
Kiss has made just one change to his squad for the match, which could prove vital for Ulster’s chances of progression to the knock-out stages, with Franco van der Merwe selected in the second row in place of the injured Robbie Diack.
“We’ve kept the same team bar that change at lock. Robbie had a blow to the rib cage in the first game (versus Clermont) and he’s got a bit of abdominal trauma so he’ll be out for 2-4 weeks. Franco had a rest last week and it’s a good time for him to come back in. I thought Pete (Browne) did well last week and also Kieran Treadwell put in a superb effort off the bench from half-time.
“During the season so far we’ve had to make a lot more changes from game-to-game so this is a good opportunity to keep it as stable as possible. It’s nice to have a situation where the combinations can work one further week together.”
In contrast to Ulster’s selection, Clermont boss Franck Azéma has included five new faces in his starting XV for the fixture. According to Kiss, the changes could potentially make Clermont even stronger than they were last weekend.
“They have brought in players who will provide massive threats to us, particularly in the backline. When you have players of that calibre coming in - the crazy feet of Isaia Toeava, and Noa Nakaitaci, who just scores try for fun, you know they will be dangerous. They’ve got such depth and they’ve always been able to shift their team about and keep it strong.”
When asked about what points tally Ulster might require to keep in the hunt for qualification to the latter stages of the competition, Kiss said:
“We haven’t discussed that. Every minute matters, every tackle matters every point matters in terms of where we want to get to in the end. I think winning is the first priority. That’s our focus and we’re looking forward to it,” he concluded.