Ulster will face Leinster in Aviva Stadium next weekend and Chris Henry believes the northern province deserves to play in the national stadium more often.
Dan McFarland will take his team to Dublin for the province’s first European quarter-final since 2014, when they lost at home to eventual runners-up Saracens.
This time around the opposition is a lot more familiar, but the venue is not.
When Munster visit the capital to play Leinster, the game is held at Lansdowne Road – for Ulster, the RDS is deemed good enough.
“From an Ulster point of view, the fact that Munster v Leinster games are always played at the Aviva and Ulster v Leinster games aren’t – to be honest that is always something that frustrated us,” said the former Ulster and Ireland flanker.
“It’s going to be really difficult, but if we can put in a good performance, put in a good show.On paper, yeah, it’s tough, but it’s a quarter-final, knock-out rugby, you never say never.”
Henry admits Ulster fans have been pleasantly surprised by the club’s European run this season – McFarland’s first as head coach.
They came through a pool that included Racing 92, Scarlets and Leicester – losing just once.
Beating the Welsh province home and away was key to building hope and momentum, but they were a little disappointed to see Leinster as the name that came out of the hat for the knockout stages.
“You looked at the teams in the top eight and Leinster away was the one you didn’t want, history shows that,” said Henry.
“It’d be good if Johnny Sexton had the flu, and Tadhg Furlong... and we had a few boys back, we’d see how it goes.
“I think if Ulster come at least third in the league and reach the quarter-final it doesn’t matter, anything else is a massive, massive bonus.”
McFarland’s players won’t think that way this weekend, but Henry says the team has something of a free shot in Dublin.
“There is no pressure on Ulster, it’s all going to be on Leinster to make sure they perform and get the job done,” he said.
“Ulster fans will definitely come down in force. There will be very few players that played here in that Edinburgh semi-final, in that run. So, it’s a new experience for a lot of the players.
“It’s great for that age profile of that Ulster squad, to get that experience at the top stage against the top players, it will do them the world of good for the rest of the season and going forward.”
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