Ulster coach Dan McFarland admits province's last-eight prospects 'difficult' after defeat
- Published
The defeat was Ulster's first at Kingspan Stadium in 26 matches
Dan McFarland has admitted his Ulster side will struggle to reach the European Champions Cup quarter-finals after losing their opening game at home to Toulouse.
In this season's adapted format, Ulster are one of 12 teams in Pool Two, from which the top four sides will advance to the last eight.
McFarland's team face Gloucester away next week, before hosting the English Premiership side and playing Toulouse away in January to conclude their group stage campaign.
"Backs against the wall and stuck in the corner, that's the nature of it," said the Ulster coach after his side's 29-22 defeat.
"It's going to be very difficult. By my reckoning it could easily be that we need four wins to get into the quarter-finals.
"Three wins may well do it but we're really hanging on."
In an excellent game in Belfast, Ulster were edged out by the Cheslin Kolbe-inspired French club as they fell to their first home defeat since October 2018.
While by no means out of the equation yet Ulster, quarter-finalists in the last two seasons, realistically will need to win their remaining pool games in order to hold a chance of progressing.
The physical intensity is just higher
In the build-up to the match McFarland had admitted the step-up in quality was a potential problem for Ulster, given the ease at which they have built a formidable lead alongside Leinster at the top of Pro14 Conference A.
The two provinces are undefeated in the league alongside Munster, leading to concerns over the competitiveness of the competition in preparing them for the toughest challenges in Europe.
"There is a level of physical intensity that is higher obviously, I think their pack weighed 540kg," said McFarland.
"The physical intensity is just higher, their transition play in defence which we knew we would have to be good at was too good for us early on.
"Having said that we were competitive.
"If you see yourself as a team that can compete and you get so close, it's very difficult not to focus on the things that you should do better and you know you can do."