The French club only finished seventh in the Top 14 table last season and have had a mixed start to the new campaign, winning one match and losing one.

But McFarland told the Ulster website: “If you watch them play, they’re certainly one of the best teams in Europe. Their size, speed and offload ability - trying to find a weakness in how they play is very difficult.

“They have probably the best number nine in the world [Antoine Dupont], so it’s a challenge, but that’s a motivation in itself.

“We’re in a different competition and in the quarter-final of the Heineken Champions Cup. There’s going to be a crowd there, which is awesome, even if it is 5,000 Toulouse supporters. We’ll be motivated for that and look forward to that challenge.”

The former Scotland and Glasgow Warriors assistant coach is fully aware of Toulouse’s capabilities, having watched them since the draw was known, and will be reflecting on what Ulster need to do to win after their Guinness PRO14 final loss to Leinster Rugby last weekend.

“We’ve done our homework on them and over the next few days we’ll mix in a review of the final with what we need to improve for what’s relevant in the Toulouse game,” McFarland said. “We’ll put together what we know about them for a game plan to go over and win that game.

“It would be nicer to go into this game off the back of a win rather than a loss, but that’s sport. Unless you wear a blue jersey, a lot of teams do lose games. We’ve had a number of tough games this season, so we can say we’re battle-hardened going into this game.”

Ulster Rugby head coach Dan McFarland labelled Toulouse “one of the best teams in Europe” as he prepared his side to face the four-time winners in Sunday’s Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final at Stade Ernest Wallon.