Dan McFarland warns Ulster side that Champions Cup opponents Racing 92 won't be caught cold for second week in a row

Like Ulster, the side that currently lead France’s Top 14 lost their opening European game of the season as Harlequins left Paris with a 31-28 victory.

The Londoners played a fast, expansive brand of rugby which yielded four tries, although Racing took two match points from the game and while McFarland thinks the defeat will sharpen the minds of Stuart Lancaster’s charges, he believes Ulster can take heart from Quins’ performance.

“I was surprised,” he admitted. “I didn’t think that they would be able to put as many tries past Racing as they did, but they played with real pace and intensity.

“I thought they caught Racing on the hop a little bit there – I don’t think they were expecting that. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to catch them on the hop now, but there is an element that if you can get the go-forward and get some pace into the game, you are able to move the ball to the space accurately and cause them trouble.”

Ulster have won three of their four games at Kingspan Stadium this season while Racing have lost two of their last three matches on the road.

They suffered a 26-22 defeat on their only previous visit to Belfast in January 2019 and McFarland is hoping to make home advantage count in a must-win contest.

“I think we always go into games against French teams feeling we have a good chance,” he said. “We definitely go into all our home games thinking we have a good chance so when you say confidence, it could be interpreted as arrogance.

“We love the fact we are coming up against a big French team and feel we have the weapons to do a job.”

Ulster conceded 16 turnovers against Bath and if they are to beat Racing, McFarland knows they’ll have to improve in that area.

“Their transition game is phenomenal – that would be a concern for us,” he added. “They make it difficult, their ability to attack on turnover and kicking when the ball bounces loose.

“They are one of the best around and that is a massive threat, so I think we will have to be really aware of that – that’s been a big part of our game. We had a couple of incidents last week when we made a couple of small errors that were costly, but Racing are next level in that.

“They have a good lineout. Cameron Woki is, I think, one of the best forwards around with a phenomenal skillset, work rate and he’s a real threat across the park.

“Their scrum-halves are dangerous as well. We know what is coming. It’s just going to be a fantastic night for the fans to come down and see such quality players on the pitch.

“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 in the arena to test ourselves.”