Ulster Head Coach, Dan McFarland, told the pre-Racing match briefing that he was eager to see his side put in a top performance against one of the most dangerous opponents in world rugby.
Bath reflections...
"I thought we were 18-14 to Bath at 69 minutes. So we made the game very competitive and I felt in the game that we worked really hard. We were physical. We showed intensity of effort, urgency and ultimately I don’t think we showed accuracy.
I think we tried to move the ball and create space – we are creating space – but unfortunately in the middle of the field at the moment we aren’t quite accurate enough and when you’re not accurate in the middle of the field, between the two tens, it’s quite costly.
You forfeit territory and turn the ball over and for all our want to attack, you end up piling a huge amount of pressure on ourselves.
They are a really good team. One of the best, if not the best attacking back lines in the Premiership at the moment. And they were always going to cause us loads of trouble."
On Racing 92 challenge...
"We obviously know them really well. It’s a brilliant challenge. Big French teams coming to Kingspan Stadium is always a big occasion. We are really going to enjoy it, but it is a huge challenge.
They are the number one attacking team in the French Championship and the number one defensive team. I think they are shipping 1.6 tries per game, which is phenomenal.
That is going to be a massive test for us. But it is a great place to be and the arena to test ourselves in."
On the importance of a big Champions Cup home win...
"You want to win your home games. That’s going to send you through to the last 16 which is where you want to be, play-off rugby.
The challenge is huge but you want to be winning. That’s the job we are in, we are doing everything we can and we have a lot of hungry people here who are looking forward to an opportunity to getting out there to win."
On home crowd...
"People come and they want to see the team winning, as we have very high expectations here. There is a sense that they want to see young guys out there who are fighting for everything. We promise to put that on the pitch week in week out while we develop what we are doing."
Be there for another huge European clash in Belfast!
Tickets are still available for Ulster's first home Champions Cup clash of the season, as Dan McFarland's team take on French Top 14 leaders, Racing 92 at Kingspan Stadium.
Secure your tickets for this monster of a fixture using the link below!
Ulster's new World Cup winning Springbok, Steven Kitshoff, spoke to the local media for the first time about settling into his new club and how he is excited for his first European match against Racing 92. The clash also sees Kitshoff reunite with his Springbok captain, Siya Kolisi, who joined the Parisian side following their World Cup victory.
Start at Ulster...
"I think it's been ups and downs. We've had unbelievable starts to most of our games since I've been playing. Good first-halves, we've had teams under the pump and then costly mistakes and the scoreline ran away from us.
We've identified the problems and we've seen the mistakes. It's about going to train it, execute, and try to be better week in, week out.
We've a bit of work to do but today was an awesome training session and guys look fired up and really looking forward to Saturday."
On adapting...
"I think the honeymoon phase was how friendly and welcoming the team was. It was quite nerve wracking coming off a brilliant Stormers campaign, having success at the World Cup and then joining a brand new team. I know Rob Herring from back in the day but that was about it.
As I got here the first day, everyone was super friendly, super helpful, a good environment to work in and train in, great coaching. It was a blessing to be embraced like that.
The honeymoon phase is over, it's about focusing on rugby and playing proper, decent rugby."
On his own form...
"It was a bit of a wake-up call but I didn't think I'd walk in and we'd just start winning. It doesn't work like that, you have to put in the hard work.
It's definitely a bit of a wake up call and I need to make sure I get my own stuff right before I expect to perform as I should. I haven't been on par yet.
Rugby is a weird game and you've got a nice seven-day turnaround before the opportunity to play again. For me it's making sure I've my ducks in a row, try and check all the boxes and trying to put up a massive performance against Racing.
Just going out there and expecting it to happen isn't the right mentality. You have to work to make sure you get your stuff right."
Life in Belfast compared to Cape Town...
"The obvious one is the weather. The people in Belfast are super friendly and super helpful.
I love the greenery. I love being 10 minutes away from training and having such an awesome training facility. It's been awesome.
Not having my family close by is quite difficult, we'll make a plan to see them down the line, have them here to experience what we are here."
On how big a win would be this weekend...
"Massive. Getting a result this weekend wouldn't only boost us for the European Cup but also the URC. It will give us a massive mentality shift in a positive way and re-energise the group to take on the rest of the competition."
On Siya Kolisi...
"I watched the Racing Harlequins game in really big detail over the weekend. I spent my Sunday night watching the game. Watching Siya that one game, he's a massive attacking threat when he gets the ball in hand, quite dangerous. Defensively he's solid, he's a threat at the breakdown. I haven't seen his lineout skills tested yet.
Siya is an awesome player, Trevor Nyakane has been playing off the bench but I know he'll be involved this weekend.
They're two massive South African ball carriers, brute-force players. If Siya has an on-day, we'll have our hands full."
On discussing scrum details with Dan McFarland...
"Dan is very open to ideas and theories. If I have opinions on anything. We had a good meeting this morning, especially about the scrums against Bath, where I felt things went wrong for us, things went well.
He's very open to ideas of change and improving but he has his system, the team backs it, I back it and it's just those finer details to get the better outcomes on Saturday."
Ulster back-row player, Dave Ewers, was also up for media duties, and he said the focus of the team was correcting errors made in recent game-weeks and improving accuracy across 80 minutes.
Recent form...
"I think its been disappointing, I don’t feel we are massively far away from clicking, the things that we have to work on aren’t massive technical things.
We have identified the things we need to work on and as a player and individual, that makes it easier to focus on as we try to make things right and come together as a collective."
Fixing errors...
"As a group we are very determined to fix those errors and give the fans what we want to show we worked on during the summer, and make the most of it.
We have to be clinical, our attack backs can score with half a chance like Nathan Doak showed against Bath, I feel we showed glimpses of the attacking rugby we can play."
On a huge European night at home...
"We need that performance that we can be proud of. We are going up against the in form French team, they are up there in Europe, obviously they had a disappointing result against Harlequins at the weekend but they only just lost and they are an unbelievable side and we need to be at our best to beat them.
It’s an exciting prospect to test ourselves against the best."