Ulster attack coach Dwayne Peel believes his side have improved significantly since their chastening October Heineken Champions Cup defeat to Racing 92.
The Northerners welcome the French side to Kingspan Park on Saturday, looking for revenge for that 44-12 defeat and for a victory that would give their hopes of progressing to the quarter-finals a massive boost.
Ulster trail Racing by five points in Pool 4 with two games left to play and Peel is happy that his side have their fate in their own hands.
Speaking ahead of the game, the Ulster coach said: "It’s massive, European rugby carries a life of its own really and it’s a massive game for us. We’ve put ourselves in a position where we’ve got a realistic chance of getting out of the group.
"You come into the last two rounds of Europe and that’s what you want really. You come into the last two games and you want to be in with a chance of going through to the quarter-finals and we’ve got that chance so it’s up to us to perform.
"They’re obviously a good side with stacks full of quality and international players. It’s an exciting challenge for us to be honest and physically we have to up for it to start, they’re big men so physically we have to be up for the challenge.
"But we’ve got some good players ourselves and hopefully this place will be full and it will be a good crowd backing us on."
That 44-12 defeat in France remains fresh in the mind of Peel, but he believes that the result was not reflective of his side’s performance on that day and pointed to several missed opportunities from Ulster.
The Welshman is eager to make up for that display and claims the side that will welcome Racing to Ravenhill is much stronger than the one brushed aside in Nanterre.
"I thought we played some good stuff on both sides of the ball over there," Peel insisted. "I don’t think the scoreline in the end reflected the effort and I suppose we were guilty of not turning pressure into points.
"We made a couple of linebreaks that we should have finished out there so we spoke of it being much closer if we were clinical," he added.
"From a tactical point of view it’s massively important that we’re clinical this week and that we take our chances.
"I think we have progressed [since October]. It’s a work in progress, I keep saying that all the time, but I think we’re definitely getting better. The understanding between people is getting better, the combinations are getting better.
"When we’re on song we look good and it’s consistency for me and having the courage to go and play. There’s a lot of things that have factors on it, the weather etc, but for me we’re definitely improving, it’s just about where we want to go and how we can progress that really."
Ulster will be without Kyle McCall and Angus Kernohan for the clash with the French giants but hopes to have Michael Lowry available for the game.
McCall faces the prospect of surgery after suffering a ‘significant hamstring injury’ while Kernohan is likely to be out for a month with a hamstring strain.
Lowry suffered a concussion and will undergo the return to play protocols while Jacob Stockdale looks set to return to action, having missing Ulster’s Christmas period games with a hamstring issue.
"We obviously picked up a few injuries at the weekend," Peel said. "Mikey Lowry is going through his HIA, I’m hoping he’ll be okay to be honest with you.
"Obviously Kyle and Angus won’t be right, they both picked up hamstring injuries so they won’t be good for this week.
"A couple of the boys have had a couple of weeks to relax and get themselves back in gear but everyone seems to be in good form."
