Leo Cullen calls on fans to turn out for Leinster as Garry Ringrose remains sidelined for Ulster clash

The centre, who has managed one cameo appearance during the Six Nations since January, was expected back for the URC quarter-final but has not been cleared to play.

That means that the Champions Cup final pairing of Robbie Henshaw and Jamie Osborne are reinstated in midfield, with the majority of players who featured that day back on deck after missing the win over Connacht last weekend.

Leo Cullen said that Rinrgose should be fit to next week if Leinster progress past Ulster and book a semi-final date with the Bulls or Benetton.

"He just wasn't able to do quite enough this week, so we made the call," he said.

"He's pretty close to being back playing, hopefully if we have a game next week he'll be back for that one.

"When you add the periods together it is a long time, but he was at that point where he was about to play and took a pretty innocuous thing in training which has set him back.

"Off the back of that he's come back training and got through training fine, so he would be available I believe for whatever is next.

"We just have to focus on the here and the now, but he'll come back in the mix."

Cullen was asked if Leinster, the IRFU and Ringrose had considered calling the season in the hope of clearing the injury for next year.

"He's pushing for lots of different reasons himself, he's got the Irish tour at the end of the season, so regardless of what happens with Leinster I think he's keen to get back playing," he said.

"So, I don't think we were ever at that point, no."

Jimmy O’Brien comes into the full-back position for Hugo Keenan, with James Ryan in for Jason Jenkins and Josh van der Flier picked ahead of Will Connors who misses out entirely.

Ross Byrne is cleared to play and Leo Cullen has gone with Sam Prendergast and Ciarán Frawley on the bench, with Luke McGrath covering scrum-half.

Up front, Leinster will hope to have the edge after Ulster suffered a major injury blow in the second-row with Kieran Treadwell and Alan O’Connor failing to recover from the injuries they picked up against Munster last week.

With Iain Henderson also sidelined, Richie Murphy has been forced to break up his impressive back-row by moving Cormac Izuchukwu into the second-row where he partners Harry Sheridan.

Stuart McCloskey is fit to start after being withdrawn late against Munster, while Ethan McIlroy is on the bench having done the same.

Otherwise, it's a similar team to the side that beat Leinster three weeks ago, with Rob Herring taking over the captaincy from O’Connor.

Around 18,000 tickets have been sold for the game, with Cullen excited to get his big hitters back out on the pitch.

"It's our fifth play-off game, we've lost our last one - albeit it was a draw at full-time and went to extra-time - so we've been through that experience, we thought it was important to make changes last week because of the freshness... we want to progress in this game and see where it leads us, but we need to focus on the week that we've had," he said.

"The guys have applied themselves well, a lot of experience in the group, we've played lots of knockout games already this year and hopefully we've a few more to come.

"Ulster will pose plenty of challenges, we played them a couple of weeks ago but the team we have is quite different.

"So it'll be a good test for our guys. We'll have a decent crowd here, there's still tickets on sale, but the challenges of playing the play-off games; it's a big ask for our supporters.

"We're appreciative of the crowd we had on Friday nigtht at the RDS, we're appreciative of the people who will be here and we'd plead with people to come out and support the team. It means a lot to the players and everyone involved.

"It's another exciting challenge, it's great, we're 12 games on the bounce now and so we just want to keep going on.

"It's enjoyable, not when you lose a final, but for the group there's great - you saw on Friday with the guys who are moving on at the end of the season, there was a really nice buzz there, the guys that are coming back in - there's a responsibility on them to come in and put in a big performance."

Leinster: J O’Brien; J Larmour, R Henshaw, J Osborne, J Lowe; R Byrne, J Gibson-Park; A Porter, D Sheehan, T Furlong; J McCarthy, J Ryan (capt); R Baird, J van der Flier, C Doris. Reps: R Kelleher, C Healy, M Ala'alatoa, R Molony, M Deegan, L McGrath, S Prendergast, C Frawley. Ulster: S Moore, M Lowry, W Addison, S McCloskey, J Stockdale; B Burns, J Cooney; E O’Sullivan, R Herring (capt), T O’Toole; H Sheridan, C Izuchukwu; M Rea, D McCann, N Timoney. Reps: T Stewart, A Warwick, S Wilson, G Jones, D Ewers, N Doak, E McIlroy, J Postlethwaite.