Ulster's Richie Murphy hails ‘unbelievable achievement’ but aware one final hurdle to come in European showdown

The stakes couldn’t be higher for Ulster - it is a chance to win a first trophy since success in the Celtic League 20 years ago, while a victory in Spain would also mean the province will play in the Champions Cup next season after missing out on qualification by finishing ninth in the United Rugby Championship.

“It's not the position we want to be in, we want to still be in the quarter-finals of the league, but that's been taken away from us, so it gives us full focus on what's ahead,” said Murphy. “It is an unbelievable achievement to go to a final and make sure that we give the very best account of ourselves as we possibly can...I suppose that's the message this morning with the players.

“A lot of these players, it could be their first and it could be their last time they're playing in a European Cup final, so it's really important that we attack the week like we always do.

“I think it's pretty big, considering the last time I know was a European Cup final, but last time was 2012, it's a long time waiting...so it's nice to finally get there.

“I think from this group's point of view, with the rugby that we've played throughout the season, I think we feel like we've a little bit of unfinished business and maybe we can try and do something special this Friday.”

Ulster will have to quickly park the disappointment of losing their last URC game to Glasgow at the weekend and missing out on the league play-offs.

“We played a really good team in Glasgow, we got right down to the end of the game and couldn't quite get it done,” said Murphy. “There's plenty of things that we can do to make sure that we're better next time...but, ultimately, our league performance in the back end is disappointing where we've finished.

“To get 52 competition points, 14 more points than last year, is an improvement and 50 points has never been outside the top eight before. I suppose that's a difficult one to take because it's only one year that's ever happened.”

Ulster’s league form dipped in the second half of the season as they only won three of their last 10 league games.

“We've gone 10 weeks on the bounce, including what's happened before that,” said Murphy. “But at the moment, the experience in our squad, we're probably not quite at that level where we can dip in and out of two different competitions and make sure that week in, week out, every Friday or every Saturday, depending on what day you're playing, that you're at your very best.

“Injuries have played a part, some of the decisions that have gone against us have played a part...so we have to look inward and go, what can we do better? And there's bits in that that we'll really concentrate hard on, try to fix this week in order to make sure we're really good in the final.”

On the injury front, Jacob Stockdale and Rob Herring are both out, with David McCann and Rob Balocoune back at full training.