Alan O’Connor is preparing himself for a “weird” step into the unknown as Ulster do battle with Toulouse over two legs in the Heineken Champions Cup.
Mirroring the aggregate model that football has followed for many decades, rugby will enter a new dawn as the sport follows suit in this month’s round of 16 in Europe.
And that throws up a raft of new calculations as Ulster bid to either win or keep the scoreline close heading back to Belfast following Saturday’s first leg in France.
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“It is weird,” said O’Connor of the competition’s new format for the last-16.
“We’re going over there to win but if towards the end of the game things aren’t really going our way, you maybe do have to be a bit smarter.
“We’ll definitely be thinking about that. You do back-to-back games in European competition, so we’re well used to that.
“But the aggregate (scenario) is something we’ll have to be more wary of if you’re a key decision maker in the team. It’ll definitely be different.”
While Ulster are 5/1 outsiders to beat the reigning European champions on French soil, Dan McFarland’s men have already taken a number of high profile scalps away from home.
Clermont and Northampton were both beaten in the pool stages this season, while Leinster were also toppled 20-10 in the URC at the RDS in November.
“We’ve won away in France, Leinster and also in England,” said O’Connor. “Obviously, it’s a massive challenge, but we’re going over with lots of confidence.
“We’re bigging ourselves up in terms of what we’ve already done this year, while also being realistic about the challenge.
“Not much changes for us. We’ve done it before this year and we’ll look to impose our will on Toulouse on Saturday.”
O’Connor agrees that Ulster can lean on the experience of beating Clermont 29-23 at Stade Marcel Michelin back in December.
Easier said than done, of course, against a Toulouse side who boast French Grand Slam stars Antoine Dupont and Romain Ntamack in their ranks.
“Most French teams pose similar threats - really good backs, a massive pack if they get their maul going and their pack right,” said O’Connor.
“Staying in the game is the main thing for me and not letting the game drift away from you. It’s also being smart about how we go about our business.
“Try to dominate territory, go well in the set-piece and make sure we’re playing to your strengths and take away the opponent’s strengths.
“You know what Toulouse are like. They have superstars and really good runners with the ball and they can break you in the first one to three phases.
“We all know who they have and Toulouse will be coming out full of emotion, so we have to make sure we’re playing in the right areas and play to our strengths.
“We’ll be looking to neutralise a lot of what they have and make sure we use our collective as our strength and take away their individuals.”
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