Friday night's crowd at Ravenhill was a capacity 12,000 for the European Cup tie between Ulster and Toulouse. It highlights the fact that the Ulster Branch have been proactive in terms of providing facilities for spectators as evidenced by the marquees in the car park in which drink, food and face painting was readily available.

A measure of the support, which the Ulster rugby team now enjoys can be gleaned from the fact that for Northern Ireland's recent World Cup soccer qualifiers at Windsor Park against Malta and Denmark, the combined total barely squeezed past last Friday night's figure.

Indeed the current well being of rugby union as a spectator sport can be illustrated by the fact that the viewing figures for the broadcast of live European Cup matches to date is over 24 million people and that attendances are up 25 per cent on last year.