It was perhaps only natural that the French giants occupying the first two slots in Ulster’s Champions Cup schedule would cast massive shadows over the start of the European campaign.
First up a trip to Toulouse, the holders and most successful team in the competition’s history. Then a home clash with Bordeaux, nowhere near so storied but still the team that sits right behind Toulouse in the Top 14 this season having reached the decider last term.
Both clubs creak under the weight of international talent, both are in the top three of the bookmakers’ fancies to win the Champions Cup this season. And Richie Murphy’s young Ulster side have had to deal with both of them.
Toulouse ended in a nine-try, 62-21 defeat at the Stade Ernest Wallon, with the home side racking up a point a minute in the first half.
It was a brutally harsh lesson for an Ulster team also dealing with a rash of injuries and reintegrating much of their Irish international players, away for the Autumn Nations Series, into the side from the bench.
And on Saturday, six days later, Union Bordeaux Begles come to the Kingspan Stadium fresh off a 42-28 win over Leicester.
That match was marked by a blistering six-minute spell when Yannick Bru’s side ran in three breakneck tries.
But enough about them. That’s the way Ulster attack coach Dan Soper is looking at it, anyway.
Because as much as they will need to be alive to the threat of Louis Bielle-Biarrey, Damien Penaud, Matthieu Jalibert, Pete Samu and the rest, it can’t be the only focus.
“It was quite interesting sitting back and reflecting on it as a coaching group,” said Soper on Tuesday.
“How much time did we spend of our week saying ‘this is Toulouse, look how good they are, they do this well, they do this well, look at this, look at this’, and actually forgetting to go ‘this is us and this is what we’re going to do’.
“So we’ve had a bit of a look at Bordeaux this morning but we’re trying to get the focus on us and look at what we didn’t do well at the weekend and what we’re in control of doing better. That’s been a lot of our focus today.”
As part of Ulster’s rebuilding season, matches like these two December European clashes stand out as opportunities for players establishing themselves to experience a different style of play and level of competition.
Soper agrees that having them back-to-back means the coaching staff can see just how much the squad can take what happened to them in Toulouse and cash it in for their future development.
“You had a lot of guys out there, James McCormick, James McNabney [making their European debuts] and even Harry Sheridan has played very little in Europe,” the New Zealander said.
“It was Aidan [Morgan’s] first game in Europe, Carsy’s (Ben Carson) first game in Europe. You’ve got a lot of guys playing their first game in Europe and they’re playing the European champions.
“So very quickly they’ve been taught exactly what level it is you need to get to if you want to be at the pointy end of the competition later on.
“I know it sounds ridiculous if you just look at the scoreline but I thought in some of the things from the weekend – the maul defence, the scrum, some things that have maybe been creaking a wee bit in recent times – actually some of those young guys took a big step forward in terms of how they did against Toulouse.
“The thing is‚ then when you play a team like Toulouse, like Bordeaux, like Leinster, is that they keep asking those questions relentlessly for 80 minutes.
“You might get it right two, three, four times but they keep coming back with five, six, seven questions. That is the tough thing at the very top – it’s 80 minutes of being on it the whole time.
“Often as a young player, having that ability to stay in the moment – moment after moment after moment – is the real learning.
“We’re seeing them improving on things and I’ve no doubt we’ll get better this week on some of the things from last week. It’s a question of can we be better in every moment of the game. “You know what? We probably won’t be because only the very top, top teams are able to do that and we’re not quite there yet. But we would hope to see an improvement in that regard from last week.”
But Soper accepts that, while learning lessons is all very well, a packed house at the Kingspan Stadium expects more from their European fixtures.
“Without a doubt it has to be a good learning experience but eventually we’ve got to stop learning and start delivering,” he said.
“I think there’s always pressure on Ulster playing at home this time of the year in Europe.
“There’s always a pressure and an expectation and that’s part of the privilege of getting to do what we do.
“We’re certainly going to be turning up on Saturday afternoon expecting to perform and expecting to get a result.”
