Iain Henderson admits Ulster will face a mountain to climb in this season’s Heineken Champions Cup if they lose to La Rochelle.
Ulster will take on the reigning champions behind closed doors in Dublin on Saturday evening knowing they need a response to their 39-0 defeat to Sale in their Pool B opener last Sunday.
Henderson missed the trip to Manchester due to the Return to Play Protocol, and the scale of the task in hand is not lost on the captain.
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"If you lose two games in a pool like this it puts you in a difficult position," he said.
"Your fate is out of your own hands and you're waiting to see what happens in other pools.
"It would be a poor season for us if we ended up losing this one, in terms of European fixtures."
Henderson though is determined to stay positive and backed his team to produce a performance against Ronan O'Gara's side.
"Every club goes through difficult times and difficult games," he said.
"You have to remember 120-odd minutes ago we were beating Leinster by 15 points or so, I know it's a bit of a cliche but you don't become a bad team overnight.
"You don't just lose everything you've worked on for the last four years and all of a sudden become a team that can't produce a performance.
"The real proof of the pudding is how we are going to front up and bounce back this weekend.
"It's been a short enough turnaround for us to get ourselves together and come to terms with how we're going to present this weekend.
"If you wanted someone to bring into your own patch and try and front up to this is the perfect opportunity for us.
"We've played well against the big French teams who have come here.
"I'm really looking forward to it, and I can tell you with a fair bit of confidence, all the guys who were playing last week are excited about playing too.
"A lot of our excitement grows from past victories and experiences with each other.
"When you're playing rugby you're constantly looking for those experiences again.
"One of the ones which sticks in my mind is Harlequins away about 15 years ago. It was in the snow and we had to dig down.
"Games like that stick out as they are either a peak or a trough in your career.
"They are special days because you dig down in with the person beside you because you know he's feeling as good or bad about it as you are.
"Those are the main games when special memories are made.
"Home games in Europe are always special and I think the guys are building towards that nicely."
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