European Rugby Champions Cup: Ulster v Toulon preview

Ulster were caught cold at Welford Road last weekend as they lost to Leicester Tigers and the challenge does not get any easier for Neil Doak’s men with reigning kings of Europe Toulon next on the agenda.

The French champions travel to Ravenhill for a lunchtime clash with the Ulstermen on the back of a 28-18 win over Scarlets.

Saturday’s showdown will be the first meeting between the sides and Doak will be boosted by Ulster’s record of six wins from their last seven against French opposition, while 11 of the last 13 clashes with opponents from across the Channel at Ravenhill have gone the way of the hosts.

Toulon, though, have a fine record against Irish provinces with three wins and only one reverse, but Bernard Laporte will be aware all five of their defeats in the competition’s history have come away.

Ulster prop Andy Warwick, who was plying his trade with Ballymena in the All Ireland League 12 months ago, is wary of the threat posed by the champions and expects improvements from the Irishmen.

“We left too much to do with the mistakes we made early on but we came back well in the second half and scored a couple of nice tries,” he told the club’s official website.

“But we have to learn from last week, particularly at set-piece time, to ensure we’re firing against Toulon.

Prepared

“We’ve prepared very well through the week. We have to work on disrupting their set piece, competing well at the breakdown and getting up in their faces in defence to close the space down.

“We’ll be looking to have a far better start this week and I’m sure we will. It’s a huge game and one that we can definitely win.”

On the back of defeat to Leicester last weekend, Ulster coach Doak has made two changes to his side.

Stuart Olding starts at inside centre in place of Stuart McCloskey, who is omitted from the match-day squad, while Nick Williams drops to the bench with Roger Wilson handed the No 8 jersey.

Meanwhile, Laporte has made a handful of changes to his Toulon side after they came through their Scarlets test.

Delon Armitage returns to the right wing in place of David Smith and Michael Claassens gets the nod at scrum-half ahead of Sebastien Tillous-Borde.

Juan Smith is moved to the bench with Chris Masoe staring in the back row alongside Steffon Armitage and Juan Fernandez Lobbe, while Romain Taofifenua and Jocelino Suta are paired together in the second row.

Ulster: 15 Louis Ludik; 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Jared Payne, 12 Stuart Olding, 11 Craig Gilroy; 10 Paddy Jackson, 9 Paul Marshall; 1 Andy Warwick, 2 Rory Best (capt), 3 Wiehahn Herbst, 4 Lewis Stevenson, 5 Franco van der Merwe, 6 Robbie Diack, 7 Chris Henry, 8 Roger Wilson
Replacements: 16 Rob Herring, 17 Callum Black, 18 Declan Fitzpatrick, 19 Clive Ross, 20 Nick Williams, 21 Michael Heaney, 22 Ian Humphreys, 23 Darren Cave

Toulon: 15 Leigh Halfpenny; 14 Delon Armitage, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Bryan Habana; 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Michael Claassens; 1 Alexandre Menini, 2 Guilhem Guirado, 3 Carl Hayman (capt), 4 Jocelino Suta, 5 Romain Taofifenau, 6 Juan Fernandez Lobbe, 7 Setffon Armitage, 8 Chris Masoe
Replacements: 16 Craig Burden, 17 Fabien Barcella, 18 Levan Chilachava, 19 Bakkies Botha, 20 James O'Connor, 21 Ali Williams, 22 Sebastien Tillous-Borde, 23 Juan Smith

Watch Ulster v Toulon live on Sky Sports 2HD from 12:30pm on Saturday