Ulster CEO Petrie: 'We shouldn't just try to replicate Leinster - we need to find our own way.'

Ulster CEO Jonny Petrie has just finished his first calendar year at the club, admitting he doesn't really know what the future holds.

His message isn't one of uncertainty, though - it's more to do with the fact that he sees such high potential at Kingspan that it's hard to narrow down exactly what they could achieve.

"I don't know where the ceiling is for this group of players, and for the club," said Petrie.

"All we can do is to keep working away at that, and try to improve what we do. Dan McFarland talks very clearly about competing in all these competitions, but you've got to put yourself in the mix in the first place."

"If we can continue to get ourselves into quarter finals, get to the knockout stages then we'll learn how to win in those circumstances - a young group of players will learn how to win," said Petrie.

For the second time since his arrival, the club has reached the European Champions Cup quarter final after something of a prolonged absence on the continental stage.

Ulster's only win famously came back in 1999, and since then Irish provinces have secured the cup 6 times. Munster were victorious in 2006 and 2008, but the spotlight has since shone on Leinster.

Their 4 wins in recent years include the 42-14 thrashing of Ulster in Twickenham in 2012, which also marked the last time the Kingspan club really made a dent in Europe.

The contrast between the provinces has often led to suggestions that Ulster should try to copy their Dublin neighbours - but it's a suggestion that doesn't sit well with Petrie.

"I think people get bogged down in thinking we should replicate what Leinster do. What we need to do is to find our own way. We want to be Ulster, and we want to make the best of what the province has got," said Petrie.

The dual arrival of Petrie and Head Coach Dan McFarland has certainly breathed some much-needed life into Kingspan, but Petrie is clear that there must be a constant striving for improvement, or the club will fall back into the old familiar patterns of the past.

"We're performing above people's expectations, because expectations were really low of us. We out-performed them, but that just makes expectations higher for the following year. We've continued to grow and continued to build."

Ulster's quest to reach an elusive European Champions Cup semi-final will see them travel to Tolouse in April.