Ulster prop Tom O’Toole says the Irish province will take nothing for granted when they travel to Parma to take on Italian side Zebre to open their European Challenge Cup campaign on Saturday (15:15 BST).

Richie Murphy’s side have drawn two and lost one of their first three United Rugby Championship [URC] games to kick off the season, while their opponents at Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi this weekend have lost their first three this term.

Having tasted defeat in their past 16 matches of the 2025-26 URC campaign, Zebre are on a 19-game losing streak in that competition.

They did however stun Ulster by winning 15-14 when the sides met in Belfast in January 2025, an outcome which the Ireland front row says will eliminate any sense of complacency in the ranks.

“It’s kind of weird having a European game so early in the calendar but it’s nice to park the URC for a week and obviously we know Zebre quite well,” O’Toole told BBC Sport NI.

“They upset us here a couple of years ago so we realise how dangerous they can be.

“Especially at home they’ll be a side that is very physical and probably pride themselves a little bit more at home.

“I think the last few games they’ve played, the score has been quite tight at half-time, the first 40 minutes of those have been quite tight games, even though they’ve lost their three games, so we know the challenges going to Italy this week.”

Ulster lost at home to Edinburgh in their season opener, before playing out draws away to Glasgow and at home to Munster.

Murphy’s charges recovered from a 21-point half-time deficit against Munster to earn a 26-26 result last weekend but will hope their European opener can give them a platform to build on their run to the Challenge Cup final last season, which ended disappointingly with a heavy defeat by Montpellier in the decider.

“It’s been a bit disappointing the past couple of weeks ending up with draws, although it’s still points for us that we can take away for the URC,” added O’Toole.

“Fixing up our discipline is key, to not give teams much access straight from a set-piece.

“There are some penalties we gave away there that were avoidable, a couple of offsides, unfortunately Izzy [Cormac Izuchukwu] got yellow-carded at the weekend, and that came at a pretty costly time for us.

“If we can fix up a few of those mistakes I think we’ll be in a much better position.”

The 28-year-old will hope to be part of Andy Farrell’s Ireland squad for the resumption of the Nations Championship in November as he aims to add to the 24 caps he has won to date.

Argentina, Fiji and South Africa will be their opponents ahead of the finals weekend at the end of November.

Farrell’s team beat Australia and Japan in July, before suffering a loss against New Zealand.

“It’s very exciting, it’s always really nice to reconnect with that group. The opportunity to represent your country is an unbelievable honour.

“We’ve got a couple of weeks of Ulster games to go until that squad is announced so I just plan to do my best over the next couple of weeks and perform well.”

After Saturday’s encounter, Ulster will resume their Challenge Cup campaign when they host French side Bayonne at the Affidea Stadium on 12 December.