European Cup/Pool Six: Tommy Bowe was asserting during the week Ulster are just fractions away from being more like the Ulster team of old, the one that does not over-rely on the boot of David Humphreys to kick them out of trouble.
Looking at the quality in the back line of Humphreys, the barn-door strength of Kevin Maggs, the guile and know how of Paul Steinmetz, and the pace of Bowe and Ireland's Tyrone Howe on the flanks and you would tend to agree this is a team that has been under-performing.
In a sense coach Mark McCall's problem has been knowing what is in his team but unable to get it out and he has already stated they are travelling to Kingsholm to disrupt and mess up a home side that looks as if it could enjoy the day if given a little space and some ball.
"It is our intention to disrupt Gloucester as much as possible. If you stand off them, and allow them to play they can look very good. While winning all your home games is essential, you've also got to win at least one away to stand a chance of qualification," said McCall.
"We're confident we can win our last three pool games, Cardiff away, Stade Français and Gloucester at home, but if we want to top the group we'll need to win one of the next two games - we're going to Gloucester to win."
Fighting words and with four changes in personnel and one positional move since last week's win over Cardiff, McCall has selected a side to suit his purpose.
Andy Ward has a match under his belt since injury while Roger Wilson also arrives into the back row after a 10-minute run last week to further strengthen the side. They will be two busy men. Rod Moore also comes into the front row with Neil Doak displacing Kieron Campbell at scrumhalf.
But Gloucester coach Dean Ryan is under pressure and defeat by Stade Français last week puts his team in a more precarious position.
He has brought Peter Buxton and Chris Fortey into the starting line-up, Buxton starting at blindside flanker in place of captain Jake Boer, who was ruled out with an eye injury. He will come in beside Andy Hazell and James Forrester, both of whom were named in England's 40-man squad this week. Chris Fortey comes in to hook between Phil Vickery and Christo Bezuidenhout and replaces Olivier Azam, Vickery assuming the captaincy in his first start at Kingsholm for more than six months.
What McCall fears though is the quality of attack. Andy Gomarsall at scrumhalf and Duncan McRae at outhalf releasing the likes of James Simpson-Daniel, Henry Paul and Terry Fanolua is quite a threat, although, last week Gloucester did disappear from the game against Stade for 20 minutes and made many errors.
"We cannot afford to slip again. That's key for us at this stage of the competition," said Ryan during the week.
McCall also needs this one to give Ulster breathing space before facing into the difficult assignment of meeting Stade Francais in Paris in their next match and then facing them again in the fourth pool game at Ravenhill. Two wins in the bag would indeed be helpful before that hellish double-header.
GLOUCESTER: J Goodridge; M Garvey, T Fanolua, H Paul, J Simpson-Daniel; D McRae, A Gomarsall; C Bezuidenhout, C Fortey, P Vickery (capt), A Eustace, A Brown, P Buxton, A Hazel, J Forrester. Replacements: O Azam, G Powell, M Cornwell, A Balding, A Page, N Mauger, J Bailey.
ULSTER: B Cunningham; T Bowe; K Maggs, P Steinmetz, T Howe; D Humphreys, N Doak; S Best, N Brady, R Moore, G Longwell, M McCullough, A Ward, N Best, R Wilson. Replacements: P Shields, R McCormack, R Frost, C Feather, K Campbell, P Wallace, A Larkin.
Referee: Eric Darriere (France).
Previous meetings: None.
Forecast: Gloucester win.
Odds: 1/16 Gloucester, 33/1 Draw, 7/1 Ulster. Handicap odds (Ulster +17pts) 10/11 Gloucester, 16/1 draw, 10/11 Ulster.
