No surprises at Allianz Park for Ulster forwards insists prop Ricky Lutton

The Irish province trailed 23-0 at the break before a rousing second half comeback saw them win 24-23 and keep their knockout qualification hopes in the Champions Cup alive.

One of Ulster main problems was at the scrum where they lost four on their own put-in and Lutton felt the artificial pitch made little difference to the scrum.

“I don’t think you can use the pitch as an excuse,” he said. “We train on it and have played on it before.

“There were a couple of times I thought it was a genuine slip but there were also a couple of times where we got done technically and powerfully and they are the ones we are upset about but we can’t blame the surface.

“The Oyonnax pitch was a bit softer to the ones I played on before. I could wear a full 21 metal stud on it which I wear on grass there was no issue.

“3G rewards sides that can get a good purchase in the ground, get their feet in the ground and can scrummage long and square.”

Ulster face Saracens on an artificial pitch at Allianz Park on Saturday.

“We know exactly what to expect and we know technically where we have to be, we have to get the studs into the ground and get the feet in and work down and through our height,” added Lutton.

With the race for that last eight delicately poised Lutton knows every point is crucial.

“Saracens are probably the form team in Europe at the minute and they have been excellent in their four games,.

“In Belfast they taught us a lesson and they have been going really well in the Aviva but they showed a bit of a chink in their armour on Saturday against Harlequins,” added Lutton.

“It is up to us to step up to the challenge and at the minute were not looking at the bigger picture it is just about taking one game at a time, we’re going over to Saracens with the view of putting in a performance and getting a result over there.”

Ulster will be out to avenge a revenge a 27-9 loss in the opening pool match to Mark McCall’s English Premiership side, who suffered their first loss in 15 games against Harlequins last weekend.

“For 45/50 minutes we were on top, we went in 9-5 up at half time they just came out in the second half and controlled possession and territory and those are the kind of issues we have to look to rectify, we have to put in an 80 minute performance we can’t afford to do what we did on Sunday and only play for a half.”

“I think we have grown as a squad since then and the things that Les has come in and implemented are bearing fruition and I think you can’t question the character of the squad.”

If both are selected Lutton could come up against Mako Vunipola, the England loose head was man of the match when the sides met in Belfast.

“He has been playing very well for them, their scrum has been very dominant and they put a couple of penalty tries on Leicester and they scrummed very well against Harlequins last weekend.”

“Vunipola is very strong, he’s an international and you’re not going to expect an easy time against him but I think the key for us is to work those big carriers in the tight exchanges and hopefully take a bit of juice out of their legs for when the game opens up.”