Such is the feeling on the ground after Ulster's stunning victory at Leicester Tigers last Saturday that it's difficult to shake-off the suggestion that their Heineken Cup journey has now been mapped out all the way to May's Cardiff final.
They have April's home quarter-final with Saracens at the virtually completed new-look Ravenhill, and then the semi-final draw ensuring they have another 'home' tie - more than likely to be at the Aviva Stadium – against the winner of Clermont and the Tigers. The notion is that after winning all six games in Pool Five, and being the only side in this season's competition to have done so, that this momentum alone will now propel Ulster towards topping the pile in Europe.
Flames of possibility
Though the hype has already started building towards the quarter-final with Saracens – former Ulster coach and player Mark McCall's side put his native province out at Twickenham last season at the same stage – Ulster coach Mark Anscombe is certainly not for fanning such flames of possibility.
“We always believed we were contenders,” a relaxed Anscombe said yesterday, while suggesting that not having to now leave these shores until potentially reaching the final has hardly altered the squad’s outlook.
“Yes, we went through unbeaten which is something to be proud of but also to go to places like Montpellier and Leicester and have away wins is very satisfying.
“When we get back to this, in two months time, we’ve put ourselves in a position that we can confidently have a crack at it.
“But we’ll worry about all that later,” states Anscombe who, when quizzed about his own future – he is out of contract at season’s end and has yet to have his future at Ravenhill clarified – merely says: “We’ll see, things are progressing. We’ll just leave it at that.”
He understandably wants to park events from last weekend and begin using the welcome downtime to recharge the batteries and begin planning for the next segment of Pro12 games.
They arrive during the Six Nations and are sure to be disruptive – though any prospect of Stephen Ferris featuring in this window of league games look pretty much ruled out – as Anscombe tries to hunt down a top four finish.
Yes, but there is still Ruan Pienaar’s wondrous 22-point haul – with all six shots at goal achieved – from last weekend.
“He’s a special player and David [Humphreys] has worked hard to keep him,” says the coach.
“Certain teams have special players, but special players need good teams around them to allow them show what they’re capable of doing,” he adds while emphasising how important teamwork was to downing the Tigers in their own backyard.
Squad depth
"Now, though, we've got four pretty important Rabo games and three of them are at home so we have to make sure we keep getting results.
“I think the next four games will be crucial to us to show how we’ve grown squad depth. We know we’re in contention in one competition and we know we’ve got to be in contention in the other one as well.”
