Ulster’s Billy Burns revealed that his side view Saturday’s Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final against Leinster as a stepping stone and insists that they won’t be happy with anything other than a win.
The Northern province travel to the Aviva Stadium as the underdogs for the derby clash but while Burns admits he views Leinster as the best team in Europe, he remains confident that his side can get the better of the them.
Ulster come into the game on the back of three bonus point wins in the Pro14 and in probably their best form of the season and the number 10 is eager to continue their fine run.
"Obviously it’s a huge game for us as it is for them," he said." Business end of the Champions Cup, it’s where you want to be and it’s the games you want to be playing so we’re hugely excited about going down there and giving it a good crack this weekend.
"We’re going down there to win for sure. I don’t think many people gave us a chance of getting out of the group but we spoke about it as a squad, this isn’t our big day out, this is a stepping stone to where we want to be.
"Ultimately we want to be playing finals and winning Championships. Winning this weekend doesn’t mean we do that but it puts us in another position again.
"We’re definitely going down there to win, we’re not trying to make up the numbers. We’ve trained well this week, we’ve got a good plan in place and the boys are ready to go down there and execute that plan."
The bullish Burns is full of admiration for Leinster and he believes that they are the represent the standard that Ulster have got to reach if they are to succeed them as European Champions.
"There’s no shying away, they’ve been the best team in Europe for the last number of years," he admitted. "You’ve only got to look at their squad and then the squad behind that squad as well, they’ve got talent coming in all directions.
"It’s going to be a huge, huge challenge for us but we back ourselves as well. We’ve put in some pretty impressive displays this year against top opposition and we know that this game this weekend is going to take our best performance yet.
"It’s going to be a full 80 minute performance against these guys but as I’ve touched on before, we’re working hard to go down there with a plan to beat these guys and come back with a semi-final."
