Ulster survived a serious scare in their Challenge Cup last-16 clash against Ospreys on Saturday evening, seeing out a tight contest to earn a 28-24 victory in Belfast.

The Irish province came into the game as favourites, with most onlookers expecting them to have too much quality for the Welsh visitors on the night. However, the match was more evenly contested than many would have imagined.

Ulster would carry a slender lead into the final moments of the contest, only for it to look as though Ospreys had won it late on. However, their last gasp try would be ruled out due to a forward pass in the buildup as the home side ran out as narrow winners.

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McCloskey Reacts To News Of Ulster’s Ronan O’Gara Showdown

Ulster will not have long to reflect on this result, with a massive European quarter-final on the agenda for next week. They will host Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle in Belfast on Friday evening, an occasion their players are already relishing.

Speaking to Premier Sports after last night’s game, Stuart McCloskey had a telling reaction when he was told that the French club would be coming to town for the quarter-finals.

⚪ @UlsterRugby‘s Stuart McCloskey reacts after another impressive display

“It’s been a funny few weeks!” 🗣️#ChallengeCupRugby pic.twitter.com/cn1XGQUMGt

— Premier Sports Ireland (@PremSportsIRL) April 4, 2026

I think that’s the fixture we probably all wanted. Hopefully it will be packed out here at Affidea Stadium and it will be a good game.

We will have to get better, probably at most things. Our defence was pretty passive towards the end and even our attack, our shape went away from us a bit and we stopped attacking in the last 20 minutes.

Back to the drawing board with that a bit.

La Rochelle have had a mixed campaign up to this point, although they would produce an impressive victory away at Newcastle Red Bulls on Saturday evening.

Ulster will fancy their chance of securing a big victory on home soil next week, with McCloskey and his teammates clearly relishing the challenge.

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