French teams don't travel well. La Rochelle have been poor of late and struggled to get a draw away to Oyannax.
Being home at the Kingspan is a huge advantage you must use.
This is do or die for Les and the boys so I confidently expect Ulster to win this one and set up a climactic finish with Wasps next week.
Away quarter final in April and season saved. Correct? If not, Les will be first against the wall judging by the mood on here.
Payne has been deselected from the ulster panel for ERC games and replaced with McPhillips
given the other players on the panel who are injured and could have been dropped this seems a bit ominous for instance Tommy Bowe is expected to be out for at least 8 weeks , does this mean the outlook for Payne is worse than for Tommy .
It means Payne is out for 2 more weeks and mcphillips is on the bench for 2 games. You can add players again come the qf I think, not that we will need to.
Bookies have Ulster at +1 on the even money punt. The home side would be around -3 if the sides were considered to be a similar level, so they have the French lads as slight favourites.
All depends on the attitude of La Rochelle on the day (classic cliché). If they are in the mood....mon dieu!
NM it depends on which French side come on the day , with a home game to come they are a cert to qualify , to some extent would have preferred Ulster’s games to have been away first and then home to La Rochelle last .
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Within this carapace of skepticism there lives an optimist