'The bottom line is the decision was wrong' - Passionate McFarland slams move to Aviva Stadium

Ulster head coach Dan McFarland says the decision to stage their Heineken Champions Cup meeting with La Rochelle at the Aviva Stadium was "wrong" and has called out tournament organisers EPCR for removing their home advantage.

The province were beaten 39-29 in bizarre game at the Aviva, with Ulster coming from 29-0 down in the second half to secure two bonus-points, albeit stretching their losing run out to three games.

The build-up to this game was dominated by uncertainty over where it would take place, with concerns all week about whether the pitch at Kingspan Stadium would thaw out on time for kickoff.

The EPCR moved it do Dublin on safety grounds on Friday night, before eventually confirming the Aviva Stadium would host the game just over six hours before kickoff.

The province's CEO Jonny Petrie criticised the decision, while McFarland also said the Belfast ground was playable as of this morning.

"The bottom line is the decision was wrong. It could have been played at Ravenhill," the Ulster boss (below) said.

"My personal opinion is that we were there this morning at 10 o'clock - 9:30 - and that pitch was playable.

"I was there the night before and the people there predicted that it was going to be playable. The work that the people did, the staff and volunteers, to get that pitch ready was phenomenal under the current circumstances. It was ready.

"We knew it was going to be ready because the weather was predicted to change overnight. But that decision was taken away from us."

And McFarland maintains that the match referee Luke Pearce was happy to give the groundstaff more time to work on the pitch when he inspected it yesterday.

"My understanding is, and I was stood there, that Luke Pearce said it was worth waiting until