Matchday Live

Sanderson expecting tough Ulster test

Alex Sanderson says the challenge facing his Sharks ‘couldn’t get much tougher’ as he prepares for a crunch match against Ulster in the final pool stage match of this year’s Heineken Champions Cup.

Sharks came out on top 39-0 when the sides met at the AJ Bell Stadium but Alex says that result, along with Ulster’s last minute defeat against La Rochelle in their last European tie, means Dan McFarland’s team have plenty of ‘fuel for the fire.’

He said: “We played some of our best rugby when we played them last time, and they’re back at home so we know they’ll be royally up for this game this weekend.

“They deserved to win against La Rochelle and with getting so close as they have been in recent weeks, their rhetoric will be that at some point their luck will turn. It’s our job to make sure they don’t have the luck of the Irish this weekend.

“The Champions Cup is a fantastic, worthwhile competition for the exposure it gives these lads on a big stage. There’s no substitute for the experience it gives the lads, having to go to a really partisan crowd like we’ll face at the Kingspan Stadium on Saturday.

“I went there for a quarter-final with Saracens and I’ve been trying to describe it to the boys this week. We don’t face that in the Premiership and all of these experiences make the lads grow as players and people.

“I think we’ve burned our bridges with Ulster with the performance we put in last time. We know what’s coming and we’re expecting a right ding-dong.”