LEINSTER go into their New Year’s Day clash with Ulster back on top of the table after their 9-3 win over Munster on Tuesday evening.
The Dubliners went to Limerick and came out on the right side of an arm wrestle with Munster to open up a three-point lead over Glasgow.
Ulster are four places and nine points behind Leo Cullen’s side and have only won twice against Leinster in all competition since 1999 in the Irish capital.
Attack coach Dan Soper believes it is one of the hardest places in world rugby to get a positive result.
“It’s certainly right up there and one of the most difficult places to go anywhere,” stated Soper.
“They have set the standard for the last number of years, and you’ve got to respect what they’ve done, they’ve played great rugby the last number of years and you can see they have made a few tweaks in there with Jacques (Nienaber) being there and I think it looks even more of a fortress doesn’t it?”
“We only have to go back 12 months and what happened in that game was that were in such a good position until half-time weren’t we and then the wheels sort of came off a wee bit.”
“That’s the sort of team they are, you know when you turn up there that you’ve got to be on it for 80 minutes because if you’re not they only need 10 minutes and they swing a game and all of a sudden, you’re chasing your tail.”
“The guys all know each other so well through being in Irish camps over the last number of years and so they have a real good understanding of a lot of their players and that gives you a bit of a leg up as well.”
“But vice versa they’re doing the same so we’ll just have to make sure that we prepare well, and we turn up ready for what will be a really great challenge at the start of the year.”
Traditionally in the Christmas derbies the trend is to play your strongest team at home, but Soper is adamant if everyone is fit Ulster will travel to Dublin as strong as possible and is hoping to have Irish internationals Rob Herring and Billy Burns in contention for the match day squad.
“I suppose it depends on where you are at with your squad who is fit and available, the fact that there is a week off after this game that changes things a wee bit as well, there is the national players that you have got to manage through.”
“Quite often the squad rotation is pushed on you a wee bit just through horses for courses but also through guys being fit and available.”
“We have tried to go this year with guys that are fit and available at the start of the week and they will get the nod of the guy that is maybe struggling that is not always the case, but it is nice to be able to have guys on the pitch all week.”
“If you have the depth of a squad to be able to do that it is a bit of a luxury, sometimes we have that in some positions and other times we have been backed into a corner.”
“We have a nice 10-day turnaround so hopefully we have a full deck to pick from.”
“We have probably gone about it a wee bit different this year where you have seen more young guys mixed in like the Connacht team where it wasn’t all the new boys together, so it is about trying to give them a bit of support around them when we are doing it.”
