HEINEKEN CUP POOL FOUR:James Haskell of Stade Francais says last weekend's defeat to Ulster will give his team-mates an added urgency, writes Johnny Watterson

THE SOFT-spoken James Haskell has a unique take on trying to queer the pitch at King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels next Saturday.

The England and Stade Francais flanker sees Ulster’s 23-13 third-round Heineken Cup win in Belfast as an invitation for the French team to actually play the way they want to play, that is, not like they played in Ravenhill.

That Haskell and his Parisian side may face Ulster without a number of injured or suspended players is a moot point that will unfold more fully as the week progresses.

Still, Stade feel they left kudos, momentum and points behind in Belfast in a testy, ill-tempered meeting. And it was all entirely unforeseen by them.

The lack of conviction in Haskell’s voice tells a story of its own. But like most beaten players in any sport his eagerness to get back up on the horse and right the terrible wrongs of last week’s ugly contest can’t come quickly enough.

“It’s brilliant that we get to play them again next week. That’s the beauty of rugby and professional sport,” says the international backrow. “Every week you have another game until the season ends – and it’s even better if you get to play the opposition that you lost to the week before on the following weekend.

“We’ll look forward to that. That’ll certainly be a big period of reflection when we watch the video because it wasn’t a good performance at all from us.

“If anything, this defeat will give the players an added urgency and desire to make sure that we don’t lose in Brussels.

“In modern rugby at the moment, you finish one game, address the issues, refocus and you go again. That try at the end . . . we have the ability to do that.”

The match in Brussels is a new departure for both clubs, although Stade’s plans are to take the 90-minute TGV ride from Paris to the Belgian city midweek so that they will have had some time at the ground. Owner Max Guazzini’s pre-match theatre might also offer some distraction to Ulster but not unlike the high-stepping can-can girls he is providing to kick up some atmosphere, the home side will also be hoping for as co-ordinated and eye-catching a performance.

“It’s certainly not panic stations yet. We can regroup and refocus and go again. We know we have to go to Brussels and put on a performance,” says the 24-year-old. “As a team, we’re used to playing games at the Stade de France but it doesn’t and shouldn’t matter where we play. It’s about turning up and playing.

“We’ve got to make sure that when we go to Brussels, starting on Wednesday, we go there with all guns blazing because we can’t afford to give any more momentum away.”

Haskell appeared in all of England coach Martin Johnson’s Six Nations Championship teams and again in the three autumn internationals. He joined Stade from Wasps at the end of last season and is still coming to terms with the change in culture between London and Paris. But he has a clear view where Stade need to clean up their act on Saturday.

“It’s about retaining the ball. You can’t play going backwards or with people making individual errors,” he says. “We need to improve our ball retention – it’s as simple as that. I don’t know what the stat is for the amount of turnovers we gave away, but it was pretty horrendous. Half of them probably weren’t even forced.

“They were from people knocking the ball out of hands or knocking the ball on and you can’t build any momentum if you’re team’s getting a lot of slow ball or if you’re losing the ball every time you go into contact.”

Haskell is a tough competitor as befits a graduate of Wellington College, the national monument in England to the Duke of Wellington set in 400 acres of rolling Berkshire. He is also seen by some to play in the mould of Lawrence Dalliglio – an Ampleforth College boy no less – and both players have had, well let’s just say video controversies. Haskell, importantly, also believes in the breadth of ability available in Stade.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” he concedes. “But the beauty of the team is that we have the players who can turn things around.”