Heineken Champions Cup: Ulster boss Dan McFarland wary of European step-up

Ulster have collected 38 points from their opening eight Pro14 fixtures

Dan McFarland has admitted he is concerned that Ulster's easy start in the Pro14 could have left them ill-prepared for the start of the European Champions Cup.

The northern province host Toulouse on Friday, having won all eight of their opening league games, claiming six bonus-points in the process.

The speed at which Ulster, Leinster and Munster have taken big leads at the top of the Pro14 conferences has led to concerns over the competition's competitiveness.

"I genuinely don't want to denigrate any of the opposition that we've been playing because a lot of them have been decimated by international call-ups and missing guys through injury like we have," said head coach McFarland.

"The bottom line is we've played eight games, we've won all of them and got bonus-points in six of them.

"Is that a trend that you'd expect to carry on through Europe and the inter-provincial games? Absolutely not."

• Henderson and Lyttle out of Ulster's European opener

In the new-look Champions Cup, Ulster will play home and away fixtures against Toulouse and Gloucester in Pool B.

The new format - enforced by the pandemic and only for the 2020-21 season - features two pools of 12, with the four highest-ranked clubs from each reaching the quarter-finals.

Ulster's 2019-20 campaign belatedly came to an end at the hands of Toulouse in September, with the French side romping to a 36-8 quarter-final win.

With the current season beginning shortly before the autumn international schedule, clubs have been without their international contingent for the majority of the campaign to date.

Jacob Stockdale is in line to return for Ulster on Friday having last played for the province on 10 October

With five players in Ireland's squad for the Six Nations resumption in October, Ulster were less affected by international absences than many of their Pro14 rivals.

"We're missing a lot of backs, and have missed a lot of backs over this time... but we've got a lot of experienced forwards who have been playing for us over those eight games and that's really helped us," McFarland said.

"The young backs that have been playing have done a really good job.

"It's a totally different world when we come into Europe. We're playing against a Toulouse team that is packed with size and experience up front and an unbelievable plethora of talent in the backs.

"We won't know whether that lack of being tested over the last wee while is going to count against us."

'I know for a fact we've improved'

Having reach the Pro14 final and European quarters, Ulster's promising season ended in disappointing fashion with heavy defeats by Leinster and Toulouse.

In France the province never looked likely to cause an upset, but McFarland remains convinced his side are in a better place now than they were three month ago.

"It's a different things but I do feel, well I know, that we're playing a lot better now than we were back then," he said.

"Guys prior to the quarter-final weren't in such good form, are playing a lot better now.

"We have a little bit more cohesion in some of the young fellas in the backs who didn't get much time together prior to that.

"There are plenty of things there that have improved.

"Whether Toulouse have improved or not I don't know, I'm not sure, they'll probably say that they have because they hadn't played any games at that stage but I know for a fact we've improved.