With the Irish province having also reached the last eight in 2019, the Ireland flyer wants the Pool 3 runners-up to “push on to that next level”.

“The top eight of the Champions Cup is where we want to be,” he told the Ulster website. “We want to be one of those teams that are always competing at the business end of the season.

“We’ve been doing that for the last two seasons and now we want to push on to that next level and get past those quarter-finals and into the semi-finals and final.”

The 23-year-old revealed that it was a relieved Ulster who clinched a last-eight place with a 22-15 home success over Bath Rugby last Saturday, after being held 7-7 at half-time.

“It was certainly a relief to get over the line when there was just one score in it and Bath had us under a bit of pressure in the closing stages,” he said.

“I suppose the result was the most important thing, to make sure we qualified for the quarter-finals, but we definitely still have plenty to work on.

“I think we needed to be more accurate and hold on to the ball better. We needed to bring more energy to the game; it felt a bit flat and it’s probably part of the reason why we didn’t kick on and put more points on the board.

“However, in a way it is encouraging that we can still find a way to win these big games when we aren’t playing to our full potential.”

Ulster Rugby may face a tough trip to four-time winners Toulouse in the Heineken Champions Cup quarter-finals in April, but wing Jacob Stockdale is targeting further progress in Europe’s elite club competition.