I want to play in the Champions Cup rather than Challenge Cup, states Ulster centre Stuart McCloskey ahead of big showdown against Harlequins

The centre was named in Ireland’s Six Nations squad on Wednesday but that will be firmly at the back of his mind in what has become a must-win game for Ulster in London.

Victory and Ulster will reach the last 16 of the Champions Cup, however a defeat and no match points means they will drop into the Challenge Cup and face an away trip in the knockout stages of the lower competition.

Ironically the Challenge Cup is the furthest Ulster have gone in Europe since 2012, when they reached the semi-final in 2021 but blew a half-time lead at Welford Road against Leicester Tigers. Despite that, McCloskey is hoping he doesn’t have to play in the competition this season.

“I don’t really want to be playing Challenge Cup and I don’t think the other guys really want to be playing in it either so that’s a pretty big carrot,” stated McCloskey.

“I don’t want to be playing with a purple ball – what is it, in four or five weeks – when we go into the last 16, so I’d much prefer to be playing Champions Cup last 16 against a big team and in a big fixture.”

McCloskey is undefeated in his previous visits to the Stoop but Harlequins are riding high in the English Premiership and have already qualified for the last 16 in the Champions Cup.

However, with the hosts needing to win to have a chance of securing home advantage in the knockout stages, McCloskey knows the threats posed by the London side’s back line.

He said: “I think I’ve maybe played three times there and I think I’ve won all three which I hope is a good omen. I remember playing one in the snow over there and that was a great win, good memories.

“We played well the three weeks before, well, if not brilliantly we got the results so we’re not too far away. It’s probably a bit deflating right now from where I thought we had been coming back down to earth from the weekend.

“I think we’ll turn it round, there’s a lot of enthusiasm in the group, a lot of dejected guys obviously from that result at the weekend but hopefully we’ll take that the right way and turn up on Saturday against Quins.

“You’re probably mainly thinking about Marcus Smith and Andre Esterhuizen but they’ve got Tyrone Green who has been good for them as well at full back and I think Quins are a team who turn up every year, and there’ll be some new guy playing on the wing or at 13 – someone who’s lightning and come from Cardiff University or something, from nowhere, and is playing well for Quins and especially in the backline.”

The centre pinpointed the areas that Ulster need to improve on from last week’s defeat against Toulouse.

“Some of the turnover defensive stuff. We had two line breaks off set-piece that ended being turned over in the next phase and they go down and score the phase after, so that could do with a bit of tidying up,” he said.

“Some of the maul defence, not just the maul itself but just round the edge of that. They got a lot of traction from in round there whether on the blindside or openside, obviously it comes from the maul being so dominant and there are a few individual things in there that need tidying up.

“Then our attack, guys being in position a bit earlier, being in the right place to take opportunities as there were a few opportunities we had where guys missed a beat.”