Prendergast wary of statistics

Pool Two: Ulster v Gloucester Johnny Wattersonhears from the Munsterman now showing fine form with the English Premiership leaders

A team leading the English Premiership facing a side propping up the Magners Celtic League table doesn't look like much of a contest. But this early-season positioning of teams that were without their international players and have lacked continuity has occasionally skewed the competitive landscape.

As much as anyone, Mike Prendergast will know the Ulster team is significantly more robust than the Celtic League table suggests. Ulster in Ravenhill Road offer a severe test, and Gloucester, despite their exalted place in the Premiership, will be as wary as a man walking into a lions' den.

The scrumhalf, who joined the French side Bourgoin on a two-year deal from Munster two seasons ago and then high-tailed it to Kingsholm when Gloucester showed an interest, is not without his own fine-tuned sense of caution approaching a cold Belfast on Friday night.

"I wouldn't look at their last couple of results," he says. "About three-quarters of their team are back in the last two or three games. It is Heineken Cup and Ravenhill and they will just be 100 per cent when we arrive.

"No, I wouldn't look at the Celtic League. They will have a different mindset going into the Heineken Cup.

"I have played against Ulster two or three times before. It is definitely like going into somewhere like Thomond Park. The crowd really get behind their team. They have a similar home record to Munster and they definitely pride themselves on playing at Ravenhill."

Gloucester will not wish to change their mindset too dramatically, though their last few games have shown some weaknesses that were not apparent in their opening five wins of the season.

They are currently on top of the table on 23 points, with five wins from six outings; London Irish, last time out, inflicted their only league defeat.

A recent cup performance against Wasps may also be significant. Though Gloucester cruised into a 21-3 lead, they badly conceded ground thereafter and came crashing down to earth as Wasps snatched the match 29-26.

"Yeah, we lost last weekend against Wasps," says Prendergast. "We were 20 points up and we lost it. Things have been good but there is definitely room for improvement. We started well but some of our results of late could have been better."

Nevertheless, Gloucester can only be seen as a formidable threat, and the overwhelming sense is that if Ulster blow this one first match up they will find it difficult to get the wagon up and going again.

The province have not survived the competition's pool stages since they won the cup at Lansdowne Road back in 1999. Coach Mark McCall and company may be feeling the pressure build.

There is also the lingering shadow of the World Cup. We can be certain that Andrew Trimble, Paddy Wallace, Neil Best, Brian Young, Isaac Boss and Stephen Ferris felt keenly their lack of game time in Bordeaux and Paris.

The consequent disappointment - the feeling they didn't get the chance to impress with Ireland - could trigger a greater determination to do it for Ulster.

"Guys coming back from the World Cup who weren't getting game time will have a point to prove," says the Limerick-born 29-year-old.

"Mark McCall (the Ulster coach) has brought them back in piece by piece and those guys will be really focused.

"A couple of them, Paddy Wallace and Stephen Ferris, didn't play and they will want to prove a point. And now that they've played a couple of games they will be a force.

"But I think ultimately they will want it for Ulster rugby more than anything and this is their opportunity."

With Ospreys and Prendergast's old club Bourgoin up later in the pool, this game is, however, an opportunity for Gloucester. Bourgoin are famously bad at travelling but Prendergast's view is that the French are passionate for all home games. A Belfast win would greatly boost hopes of progressing from the pool.

That's the team challenge. The personal one for Prendergast is to get back in the starting line-up. He started the first five matches but since has been rotated, with Scotland's Roy Lawson and the Welsh international and Lions tourist Gareth Cooper coming back into the equation at scrumhalf.

"The team has started to rotate it a bit," says Prendergast. "When you get the chance you basically have to take it. There is a big squad here and you have to fight for pitch time."

Behind the caution Gloucester know this could be a good time to pick off an Ulster team that has struggled.

Ulster's hope is that last place in the Celtic League is no bad place from which to launch an ambush.

But that is a long shot.