Stuart McCloskey spills midway between his own 22 and 10 metre line to give Stade a scrum and a bit of respite from this frenetic start.

The visitors get us underway on Adam Leal's whistle kicking left to right towards the War Memorial End.

Jonathan Bradley
BBC Sport NI senior journalist at Affidea Stadium

There's a healthy crowd here for an early Saturday afternoon kick-off.

A decent number of pink-clad supporters have made the trip from Paris too.

This pair have plenty of history, of course, with no meeting more famous than the European Cup semi-final here in January 1999 which Ulster won before going on to lift the trophy against Colomiers in Lansdowne Road later the same month.

Stadium looks a bit different today...

While it's all focus on European rugby this weekend, the Six Nations is just around the corner.

Ireland centre Bundee Aki sat down with Conor Murray and Gavin Andrews for this week's episode of The Ireland Rugby Social podcast and discussed how we went from giving up the game in his teens to a World Rugby player of the year nomination in 2023.

"I fully stopped [playing rugby]," he said.

"Before that, when I first started playing, I was in the New Zealand Under-20s camp. I remember the first camp, I said, 'I actually can't come because I'm starting work'.

"But my manager told me to go so I turned up late to camp, passed that camp and went to the second one, did the same thing and just didn't turn up to the third one because I was working.

"They are the sacrifices you have to make. I needed the money."

It's already been a busy week in BT6 with new contracts announced for Rob Herring, Tom Stewart and Sam Crean, as well as confirmation that Zimbabwean second row Eli Snyman will join on a two-year deal from Benetton this summer.

Perhaps the biggest news of all, however, is that head coach Richie Murphy has indicated his own desire to stay on.

The former Ireland under-20 coach, who has been in charge at Ravenhill since 2024, has a deal only to the end of season at present but told BBC NI that he was keen to sign a new contract.

"We're hoping that will be the case," he said of still being in charge next season.

"These things are part of the process and Ulster are working through that at the moment.

"We're working really well together and the results are starting to show, so let's hope that builds forward for a couple of years."

Image source, Getty Images

Lock Harry Sheridan has made it clear how important that home advantage come the knock-out stages will be.

The second row says the squad are hoping to bounce back from the frustration of last weekend's postponement and believes there's a "massive fixture" in store here today.

"We were going over there expecting to do a job. All we wanted to do was go down and play the game and obviously the game was called off last minute, it was unfortunate," said the 24-year-old second row, who has started nine games for Ulster this season.

''But we'll take five points every day of the week and change our focus now to Stade Francais. It's a massive fixture for us at home in front of our fans. I'm really looking forward to it.''

Read more of what Harry Sheridan had to say here.

Image source, Inpho

Ulster know that any win where they claim at least three more match points than today's opponents would see them top the group.

Should Stade win, or deny Ulster a bonus-point win while claiming two bonus points of their own in defeat, it will be the French side who remain in top spot.

While both are already through to the knock-outs, this is important for home advantage. The group winners would be at home for the last 16 and, should they get there, the quarter-finals.

Home country advantage in the semi-finals would depend on the number of points gained compared to the other two group winners.

The team for today shows nine changes from the one that would have faced the Cheetahs last week with the return of wings Jacob Stockdale and Robert Baloucoune among the headlines.

Stockdale injured his rib against Munster and would have missed the game in Amsterdam had it taken place, while Baloucoune has not played since the loss against Leinster a week before Christmas.

Harry Sheridan, David McCann, Nathan Doak, Zac Ward, James Hume and Sam Crean are the only players to retain their starting jerseys from last week's named team.

The latter wasn't due to start but comes in with Wallaby prop Angus Bell a late scratch through illness.

Ulster: J Stockdale; R Baloucoune; J Hume, S McCloskey; Z Ward; J Murphy, N Doak; S Crean, T Stewart, T O'Toole; I Henderson, H Sheridan; D McCann, N Timoney, B Ward.

Replacements: R Herring, E O'Sullivan, S Wilson, M Dalton, S Reffell, C McKee, J Flannery, J Postlethwaite.

Image source, Getty Images

Hello and welcome from the Affidea Stadium.

First things first, we can confirm that we'll have a game to talk about. It was right about this time last week - just half an hour from kick-off - that Ulster's game with the Cheetahs was cancelled because of a frozen pitch.

No such concerns here in Belfast, despite the heavy rain over the past day.

Stade Francais are in town and these familiar foes will get under way at 13:00 GMT.

Image source, Inpho