Rob Herring hopes buzzing Kingspan crowd can roar Ulster to famous European victory

A win for Dan McFarland’s side coupled with defeats for Cardiff and Racing 92 would see Ulster qualify for the last 16 of the tournament with a game to spare.

Defeat and Ulster would need to go to Premiership leaders Harlequins needing a positive result to progress.

Toulouse have a maximum 10 points and top the pool after two games and the French side have won on their last two visits to Belfast.

Ulster have only lost once on their new artificial surface this season and Herring believes the French side should be fearing coming to Belfast.

“At the end of the day they have to come into our house, and we’ve got to give them a good welcome,” said Ulster’s record caps holder.

“It’s about us imposing parts of our game that we do really well.

“They have parts they do well, we have parts we do well and it’s about marrying that up and making sure that when we go into battles in the game, if you’re winning the majority of those you have a good chance of winning the game.

“Yes, they do have stars, so do we. The competition against them over the last number of times we have played it’s been very close.

“We’ve won some, they’ve won some, it’s always been fairly close scores as well so we know we can do it, we know we can compete at that level.

“It’s a privilege to play at home especially when it’s sold-out like that and it’s an 8pm kick-off, so we know the crowd will be excited about it and there’ll be a good atmosphere but at the same time we’ve got to give them something to cheer about as well,” he added.

“We have had some good performances against them, but it is a tough game, they are one of the biggest sides in Europe, the rivalry is right up there.

“Dan (McFarland) said after the Leinster game, in terms of games we play at this club this is as good as it gets against one of the best sides to ever do it in Europe and at home, sold-out crowd, how can you not get excited about that?”

As well as being in contention to reach the last 16 in Europe festive derby wins over Connacht and Leinster moved Ulster into the top four in the United Rugby Championship.

“I think we are going pretty well, we had a few games where the results weren’t going for us,” Herring said.

“But going into this stage of the season, fourth in the table in the URC and a couple of wins away from going to the knockout stages in Europe, I think that’s a good outcome.”