Ulster head coach Dan McFarland says he can understand the frustrations of Leinster and the Ospreys, after they were forced to give walkovers in round two of the Heineken Champions Cup.
Leinster are expected to appeal the EPCR's decision to award Montpellier a bonus point 28-0 win for the cancellation of their fixture, which had been due to be played on Friday night.
The four time champions had been dealing with a Covid-19 breakout in their camp last week, but had been able to name a strong matchday squad on Thursday afternoon, having been cleared to travel to France by the HSE.
However, the EPCR cancelled the game on advice from the Match Risk Assessment Committee, much to the displeasure of the four-time champions.
Likewise, the Ospreys were forced to give a walkover to Racing 92 following a similar outbreak of Covid-19 in the Swansea club.
However, just hours later the EPCR announced they were postponing all games between British and French sides, following a tightening of travel restrictions between the regions.
Having previously ruled out the possibility of postponements, the decision arrived to the frustration of Leinster, Ospreys and the Scarlets, who also had to concede a result to Bristol in round one.
On Friday night Ulster were able to complete their round two fixture with Northampton Saints, where they picked up a second win in a row with a 27-22 bonus-point victory.
After the game, their head coach McFarland was asked to put himself into the shoes of his Leinster and Ospreys counterparts.
"Would I be frustrated? I'd be really frustrated," he said, knowing his own side could well end up affected with similar issues later this season.
"You want the opportunity to actually play.
"I see that and I know it could be happening to us in four or five weeks, one way or the other, either us getting the five points or someone getting the five against us.
"I don't know how it's going to work out. I don't know what's fair and what's not but I do know I'd be frustrated in that situation."
With nine points out of a possible 10, the former champions look well placed to reach the knockout stages for the third time in four seasons.
"Rather than wrestling with the mathematics, I'm going to put that aside and say I want to win two more games to get a home draw going forward or at least the right to play the second leg at home in the last 16."
And while McFarland said his side have been "lucky" over the course of the opening weekends, he wasn't referring to anything that happened on the pitch.
"I think that first and foremost we're really grateful as a club that we've been lucky enough to be able to play two games and post two results.
"There are a lot of clubs out there with the uncertainty of not playing and the anguish of having games postponed or awarded to the opposition, that's a really unfortunate position.
"It could slap us in the face at any point. I know that, it's probably coming.
"We're lucky enough that we've got two games done. Nine points from two games is a decent place to be but we're only half way through the pool stages and we'll turn our attention to the Interpros now before we're back in Europe.
"Rather than wrestling with the mathematics, I'm going to put that aside and say I want to win two more games to get a home draw going forward or at least the right to play the second leg at home in the last-16."
No decision has been made yet on when the postponed round two matches will take place, with the congested calendar raising the possibility of midweek games.
And after last season's pool stage had to be scrapped mid-way through, and the previous year's quarter-finals delayed by nearly six months, McFarland said it was disheartening to see the tournament once again disrupted, but that rugby fans need to remember the wider perspective.
"It is sad, it was definitely sad last year that those two rounds were discarded.
"There's so much in life that's disrupted at the moment. This is the centre of our world but the centre of so many peoples' worlds are disrupted on a week-to-week basis.
"It's frustrating, it's annoying. We're subject to decision making from people who have huge amounts of responsibility around public health making complex social decisions. We have to go with the flow. We've all our opinions and the right to voice those opinions and to influence if we think those opinions are valid but ultimately we'll plough through and god willing we'll all get through safe," he added.
Ulster will park the Heineken Champions Cup for the next few weeks, as they get ready for a busy run of United Rugby Championship fixtures, with Interpros against Connacht, Leinster and Munster in successive weeks.
McFarland will be forced to rotate his squad throughout that period due to the IRFU's player management system, as well as the injuries to Stuart McCloskey and Iain Henderson.
Against Connacht on St Stephen's Day they will be looking for revenge following their defeat in the reverse fixture in October, while they will likely be facing a fully-loaded Leinster on New Year's day in Belfast.
Their Heineken Champions Cup cancellation this weekend, as well as the likely event that their round 10 URC fixture against the Lions will also fall victim to a postponement, means Leo Cullen will likely be able to choose from a near-full deck.
"Those guys are going to come stacked," said the Ulster coach.
"They're resting of players is already sorted out for them because they've not played this weekend and they won't play in round ten.
"We've got some really tough fixtures and we're playing all our games. We have to be careful with how we select over this period for what are critical matches."
