Not for nothing is this the biggest match of Round 20 in the RaboDirect PRO12. The result will have a critical influence not merely in determining the pecking order for the play-off semi-finals but home advantage.
Now that they have arrived in the top four with a game in hand on those immediately above and below them, the Warriors under Gregor Townsend will settle for nothing less.
Should they win their four remaining matches, then Scotstoun can clear the decks for a home semi-final, not that the Warriors will look beyond the formidable challenge awaiting on their doorstep at the end of the week.
Ulster come with so much at stake that the collision ought to push the Warriors' crowd into unchartered territory towards their stadium's limit just short of 10,000.
Having lost there last season (20-14), they can ill afford to do so again and expect to be back home at Ravenhill in the play-offs.
If they are to get there, they will have to do it the hard way. Of the five teams in contention for four places, Ulster's run-in would appear to be the most difficult with Leinster at home and Munster at Thomond Park in the last two weeks of the regular season.
Johann Muller's team managed nothing more than four Paddy Jackson penalties when Townsend's team returned to Belfast shortly after the Titanic launch and won 13-12 at Ravenhill.
If that was far too close for comfort, then the emphatic nature of last week's win on the other side of the Irish border left nobody in any doubt as to the Warriors' ambition.
Beating Munster was one thing. Beating them by the proverbial street (22-5) amounted to a public declaration of Scottish intent, that Ireland's monopoly of the Grand Final may be about to be broken.
What's more, the Warriors achieved it with virtually an all-Scottish team. The starting XV in Limerick last weekend contained 12 Scotland internationals plus two more home-grown players in prop Gordon Reid and Finn Russell, a 21-year-old centre-cum-fly half who signed a two-year contract earlier this season.
Josh Strauss, the bearded South African back row forward who contributed a man-of-the-match performance against Munster, was the one exception.
For Townsend it came as a stirring reminder that there is a first time for everything.
The Scottish Lion had never won at Thomond Park as a player. To have done so as head coach, therefore, was 'very special,' a feat which will have convinced him that after three losing semi-finals in four seasons, the Warriors are ready to go one better.
That they have coped with lengthy injuries to skipper Alastair Kellock, Scotland wing Sean Maitland, the Fijian match-winner Niko Matawalu and the high-scoring Canadian DTH van der Merwe says everything about their resilience.
In 11 matches at Scotstoun this season, only five tries have been scored against the Warriors - four in the RaboDirect PRO12 (half of them by the Newport Dragons who hold the distinction of being the only team to do the domestic double over the Warriors this season).
In three home European Cup ties against Exeter Chiefs, Cardiff Blues and Toulon, only one opponent crossed the line - Dave Ewers of the Chiefs.
Even holders Toulon were more than happy to rely on five Jonny Wilkinson penalties to keep them afloat in Glasgow in the New Year.
After a five-match winning flourish, the Warriors will equal that run should they complete the double over Ulster. With the rearranged home derby against Edinburgh next week followed by Treviso and Zebre, they could finish on a minimum of 76 points.
All three Irish heavyweights are in danger of dropping points in the renewal of ancient provincial rivalry. Leinster go to Belfast on May 2, Ulster to Limerick eight days later and Munster know they will be in for a real scrap against Connacht in Galway on Saturday evening.
Over the last three seasons, only Leinster have won more RaboDirect PRO12 matches and lost fewer than the Warriors. The aggregate records of the top five put the Scots in second place:
As for Warriors-Ulster at Scotstoun on Friday night, one word captures the magnitude of the duel better than any other - Titanic.
The run-in:
Leinster (Played 19, Points 69):
Home - Treviso, Edinburgh. Away- Ulster.
Ulster (Played 19, Points 65):
Home - Leinster. Away - Warriors, Munster.
Munster (Played 19, Points 63):
Home - Ulster. Away - Connacht, Edinburgh.
Warriors (Played 18, Points 60):
Home - Ulster, Edinburgh, Zebre.
Away - Treviso.
Ospreys (Played 19, Points 56):
Home - Connacht. Away - Dragons, Zebre.
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