‘Awesome’ Antoine Dupont and Toulouse will set Ulster a ‘unique’ challenge – Dan McFarland

Led by Antoine Dupont in one of his final games before his secondment to boost France’s hopes of earning a sevens medal in their home Olympics, Toulouse will arrive in Belfast having taken maximum points in Europe this season too.

Today's Sport News in 90 Seconds - 10th January

Buoyed by victories over Racing 92, Connacht and latterly Leinster, the northern province themselves come into this key Pool 2 clash having found form at a crucial juncture of the season, with a key element of those wins coming via game-plans seemingly well tailored to their specific opposition, but McFarland believes Ugo Mola’s outfit present a wholly different puzzle to solve.

“There’s a strong argument that Toulouse are unique,” he said. “I don’t say that lightly. In rugby there are so many generic ways of playing or standardised ways of playing both in defence and attack.

“Whenever you watch Toulouse, year in year out, they break the mould around that. The way they attack, and the way they build their team around that attack, is very different to most other teams and that makes it exciting to watch. It makes it extremely exciting, but also extremely challenging, to prepare for them.”

Keen watchers of French rugby will no doubt note that the Racing 92 side Ulster toppled in Belfast a month ago are actually eight points and three places better off than Toulouse in the Top 14 table.

But, while there are some similarities between two sides who are deadly in broken field, McFarland believes the Parisian team are at least a touch more conventional in their attacking ethos.

“They’re both transition teams, and it’s not that Racing are conservative but Toulouse are even less conservative than Racing,” he added. “Zero conservatism at times.

“They’ve a big kicking game. Toulouse will often use their big forwards in the same pattern, playing with Dupont around the edge of the rucks, looking for weaknesses, looking to overpower you with the size of their players, looking for offloads or gaps in between to try and collapse your defence and then they’ll whip the ball to the edges with their lightening backs.”

Much of what makes Toulouse so different to other opposition is, of course, the other-worldly talents of Dupont.

While his World Cup on home soil did not prove to be the coronation many expected, there is no debate over his standing as one of the game’s few bona fide superstars.

Like so many in the sport, McFarland considers himself a firm fan.

This will be Dupont’s fifth time facing Ulster, with his most recent visit to Ravenhill in the last 16 of the Champions Cup two years ago impressing the Ulster coach for what he witnessed on and off the field.

“What a great player, what a great ambassador for the sport,” he said.

“I remember when he was here the last time, he ruined our night basically on his own with a brilliant display of kicking and a couple of breaks that led to tries.

“I leave the stadium pretty late obviously and going out he was still signing autographs for young Ulster supporters.

“He could have packed his bag and gone straight back to the team hotel. I thought, ‘Man, that’s awesome’.”