David Humphreys, Ulster’s Director of Rugby, reacts to Ulster’s Heineken Cup quarter-final match up against Northampton:<\/p>\n
\u201cNorthampton will certainly provide us with a big challenge in the quarter-finals of the competition. They\u2019ve plenty of depth and they\u2019re not the number 1 seed, for nothing. They were absolutely comprehensive in how they worked through the pool stages of the competition, coming up against quality teams in Castres, Cardiff and Edinburgh and maintaining a 100% record with six wins from six.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt this stage we\u2019re not sure if the game will be played at Franklin\u2019s Gardens or another bigger venue. They have a very strong and proud home record at the Gardens but their supporters will make any trip for us a challenging prospect.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat said, just because we\u2019ve reached the knockout stages of the competition for the first time in a very long time doesn\u2019t mean that we\u2019re happy to settle for that. We\u2019ll go into the game as the underdog, but that suits us just fine. There\u2019s a self belief within our squad at the moment, we\u2019ve recorded wins on the road in all competitions this season where perhaps people wouldn\u2019t have expected us to and we\u2019ll relish the opportunity ahead of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now we\u2019re enjoying our victory yesterday and the fact that for the first time in 12 years we\u2019re going to be playing knockout rugby in Europe. However, there\u2019s a lot of rugby to be played between now and the quarter-finals in April. The players will have a week off now and when we re-group we\u2019ll turn our attentions back to the Magners League. Traditionally we\u2019ve struggled during the Six Nations period and haven\u2019t responded well without our international players. We have two very tough away matches against Ospreys and Scarlets on the horizon and if we\u2019re to achieve our aim of a top four finish in the League, that\u2019s where our attention is going to be focused.\u201d<\/p>\n