Ulster will throw everything at Champions Cup qualification says Dan McFarland

"We still love this competition and we’re desperate to play in the round of 16," said the Ulster boss.

Ulster head coach Dan McFarland. Pic Credit: Ryan Byrne, Inpho.

After seeing his side undone by the man he believes to be the best player in the world, Ulster boss Dan McFarland said his side will throw everything at Champions Cup qualification in round four.

The northern province would have had one foot in the last-16 had they beaten Toulouse on their own patch on Saturday night but an Antoine Dupont masterclass saw the French superstars run in seven tries in a 48-24 victory.

The five-time champions led 22-10 at half-time and three tries in ten second-half minutes put the result beyond any doubt.

Ulster staged something of a fightback in the final quarter but saw their push for what would have been a crucial four-try bonus come up short after they were penalised at a late attacking scrum five metres out.

Now, they must go away to high-flying Harlequins and win on Saturday afternoon if they are to progress out of the pool stages of this competition for a fifth time in six seasons.

"We love this competition," McFarland said. "It’s tough, it’s not the same as it was when it was the groups of four and we had six games.

"That was a much better competition back then, but we still love this competition and we’re desperate to play in the round of 16."

It is perhaps no surprise that McFarland longs for the previous format given how his side's efforts to this point have been hampered by the uneven scheduling.

Ulster have Cardiff in their pool but unlike the other teams vying for a knock-out place, do not play the region who qualified only due to the stipulation that the URC required one Welsh representative.

"I don’t want to be disrespectful to Cardiff, but the bottom line is that they are at the bottom of our pool, haven’t won a game, and we don’t get to play them," added McFarland.

"So for everybody else it has more or less been a guaranteed five points and that does seem a little odd, but it is what it is.

"It’s the same in the URC isn’t it? We don’t get to play a chunk of the teams in the other pools twice, instead we play Leinster, Munster and Connacht who are obviously top quality teams, but these competitions are what they are and you might miss out on the scheduling in terms of the difficulty of schedule but you also get the excitement to play some good teams and we go week to week and play what’s in front of us.

"I wouldn’t have it any other way than playing Toulouse. What a great test, what a great opportunity and a great night for the fans.

"Yeah, we lost but these are tremendous challenges."

As will again be the case this weekend. Ulster boast a record of played three, won three against Harlequins during McFarland's tenure, including victory in a Challenge Cup knock-out tie in 2021.

But the London outfit have won a Premiership title since then and are presently trailing only Northampton in their domestic table.

"Harlequins are probably in a better place this time than they were the last time," McFarland said.

"They’ve got some real quality players and I’ve been watching them closely over the last while.

"They’ve got some super individuals, Marcus Smith, he’s a fantastic player and Alex Dombrandt drives them and Will Evans is winning more jackals in the Premiership than anyone else.

"Alex Dombrandt is winning the second most and they’ve some really exciting back three players so that is going to be a very interesting prospect as well, but as I say the competition is about playing exciting teams and we played one (on Saturday) and we’ve got another one now."

On the eve of Andy Farrell's Six Nations squad announcement, hooker Rob Herring seems sure to be ruled out of the championship with an arm injury sustained in training last week, while Ulster lost back-row pair Dave Ewers and Sean Reffell during the contest with Toulouse.

They could, however, be boosted for the trip to the Twickenham Stoop by the return of number eight David McCann who started the season in fine form.