Ulster travel to the Aviva Stadium in Dublin to face perhaps their biggest challenge of the season in Leinster, hoping to progress into the last eight of the Heineken Champions Cup. The opposition doesn't come much tougher, with Leinster top of the summit in the BKT URC and having not lost a match all season.
Both provinces welcome back their international contingent, with many of Leinster's first choice players starring for Ireland in their Grand Slam victory in the Guinness Six Nations.
Ulster Head Coach Dan McFarland spoke to the media ahead of the game and revealed his excitement for the test.
"It’s the biggest challenge in club rugby across the world, its an Interpro and a Champion's Cup play off game, whats not to get excited about?"
On Ulster's form
"We had a good Six Nations period, we pushed areas of our game during that time and won against the Vodacom Bulls, who beat Leinster in the semi- final last year. On Saturday we came through a very physical encounter."
On the challenge
"History tells us that it’s a tough place for us to go. The last two years we have beaten them twice, we played well in patches in the other games but we weren’t good enough to beat them this year. We know we have the ability to win games against them but also are aware that if we are not playing to the peak of that ability, its going to be tough going but we are very motivated."
Leinster threat
"They will have a selection from a chunk of players who have just won a Grand Slam. The challenge is what it is, we approach it so that it is on us to put in the best performance we can, be physical and make every moment a contest and the the chips will fall where they fall.
Leinster’s heartbeat is their gain line or line in quick ball so if you feed them that or if they can impose that, you will struggle in the game. We managed to be able to slow it down in past games, they are going to score tries against you or anybody, so you have to score too.
We can influence the game in how we play. We need to get it right."
On selection headaches
"The difficulty in selection when we have a panel of guys who are now fit is hard. A number of the decisions this week will be tactical based and strategic based, which is a good place to be. We have a number of guys who are playing at a high level and have to choose between them."
On Tom Stewart's form
" Tom has had two years where he barely played any rugby. He used that time to develop physically, he's always had a brilliant mindset and once his body was in good shape, he got his head down.
Tom forced himself into that Ireland squad. We are lucky to have two of the four hookers in the Ireland squad. Rob Herring is fresh from scoring a try in a grand slam winning game."
Ulster lock Kieran Treadwell, who was part of Ireland's Grand Slam winning side, is feeling confident about the squad's chances against Leinster saying "We always back ourselves, we have the team and performance to do it."
On facing Ireland teammates
"It's weird after being their teammate, it will be a challenge , you know how they play and they know how we play so it will be difficult."
On pressure
"We have to play consistently well against these teams, if you let up for a second that’s when the floodgates open. We just want to win, winning is everything and to beat Leinster would be massive.
On recent wins
"It's good to string those performances, the Bulls came out firing and we needed that test ahead of the weekend."