McFarland pleased with momentum leading to Leinster mission

Ulster moved into second place in Guinness PRO14 Conference B with a bonus point win against Kings, but Head Coach Dan McFarland’s focus has swiftly changed to the upcoming Champions Cup quarter-final clash against Leinster. Saturday’s win completes an impressive run in the PRO14 for Ulster, taking 21 points from a possible 25 in the last five outings. Ulster now have three games remaining in the PRO14 with away games against Glasgow and Edinburgh, and a home fixture with Leinster. "In the forefront of our minds is that we have to go to Glasgow and Edinburgh with their Scottish internationals back and we have the best team in Europe in the last game of the season, so we’re under no illusions about the size of the task ahead of us," said McFarland. "But we’ve put ourselves into the position that we said we wanted to be in." Leinster were off-form at the weekend past and were over-powered by Edinburgh at BT Murrayfield. However, McFarland notes that Leinster were able to rest a number of players. "Leinster are top, so in the context of the conference itself it does not matter, even if it obviously matters to them that they lost and they'll be disappointed in that. They were able to rest a lot of their players. "We are in a different position, where there is a fight going on and we needed to make sure that we got the maximum points. We do not have as big a squad, guys step up and they play when called upon." Despite some excellent performances this season, particularly in the Champions Cup competition, McFarland is confident Ulster have a lot more to offer. Indeed, Ulster will now focus their preparation on producing a memorable performance on Saturday against Leinster, who are considered by many to be strong favourites. "We have put in some good performances in Europe already, but recently we have not strung together a really good 80 minutes yet. In order to win next week, we will need to do that. There is literally no doubt about that. We will have to be at our best." "I think you have to pay Leinster a lot of respect, and you want to pay them a lot of respect," added McFarland. "What they’ve done consistently over the last number of years is impressive. "They’re well coached, there are a lot of guys who work very hard for their Province and when the chips are down they produce the goods. For us, that’s a brilliant challenge."