It's all or bust for Ulster

The best of this weekend's fare could be saved until last when Ulster meet Edinburgh Reivers in a reprise of their memorable 38-all draw which actually kick-started the pool stages of the European Cup back in mid-September.

This game tomorrow is in a world of its own. Nothing else matters. To the victors the spoils - runners-up spot in Pool C and a place in the European Cup quarter-finals. Accordingly, this is not a time for Ulster to look back, more an opportunity to nail down a place in the knock-out stages for the first time. Yet it's hard not to recall that it should never have come down to this.

A few minutes from time in that drawn encounter, Ulster had the game by the scruff of the neck, were pinning Edinburgh down and had engineered an insurance penalty well within Simon Mason's normal range. However, he missed and, with a defensive scrum, Ulster could only find touch on their own 10-metre line in injury time, enabling Duncan Hodge to land an equalising drop goal with the last kick of the game.

Were it not for that Hodge drop goal, Ulster would now be through, but defeat tomorrow will see Edinburgh progress as they already have the better points differential. That would be tough on Ulster, given they have beaten Toulouse and would then go out despite having more points than two of the other pool qualifiers.

After a ragged start in what was akin to Super 12-type pyjama rugby at Ravenhill, Ulster should have won (and this despite losing their most important player, Andy Ward, at the half-way point). In hindsight, the Reivers were there for the taking more than at any time since, after losing all six of their pre-tournament games.

Even in their next outing, they were struggling to put away the group whipping boys Ebbw Vale until Craig Chalmers came off the bench to replace Hodge, scored two tries and converted both to steer the Reivers to a 41-17 win. Henceforth, they became the Revivers.

In their last six outings they have only lost twice, both times to Toulouse but on both occasions they were notably competitive. Only eight of the side that drew with Ulster survives, compared to all bar Gary Leslie and Murtagh Rea of a more settled Ulster side.

Chalmers appears to have steadied the ship and the only two changes from the team that frustrated and stood up to an abrasive Toulouse last week sees the fit again Stuart Lang and Graham Shiel replacing Hugh Gilmour and Alan Tait at full-back and inside centre.

The pack is the same as that which played Toulouse and, strikingly, outscored Glasgow by seven tries to one a fortnight ago. The Reivers are on a roll and a big crowd is expected at Myreside tomorrow, the game having reverted to there from Easter Road because "rugby people wanted it at a rugby venue."

Against that, Ulster too are on a roll of four successive wins in which they have accumulated 169 points. It looks like another close yet open game in which points will be bountiful. The pair of them have scored 40 tries and conceded 30 between them in their 10 games.

Neither has the pack which is likely to dominate the other, and both like to play a quick rucking game at tempo, with an emphasis on continuity and keeping the ball alive in the tackle.

Although it's unlikely to concern them unduly, the timing of this match also means that Ulster will know exactly what is required of them to progress as the fifth ranked quarter-finalist. Presuming Munster beat Padova, then Ulster will know that they will have to get within five points of that winning margin to ensure a quarterfinal at Colomiers as opposed to, most probably, Stade Francais.