Ulster are a nuggety team at the best of times as they showed in grinding out a semi-final win against Edinburgh at Murrayfield.
And their relatively young side will head down to Dublin holding no fears despite Leinster’s dominance in recent encounters there.
However, it is hard to see Leinster’s 24-match unbeaten run coming to an end in the PRO14 final at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday evening.
Ulster’s wait for silverware dates back to their 2006 Celtic League triumph and they are likely to head home to Belfast empty-handed once again.
Leinster are overwhelming favourites, and rightly so.
They have the luxury of resting regular fly-half and captain Johnny Sexton and fellow Ireland international Josh van der Flier to the bench with one eye on next week’s Champions Cup quarter-final against Saracens.
Even so, Leinster’s starting line-up has 12 full internationals, including the fit-again second-row, James Ryan and Garry Ringrose, their new captain.
Since their last defeat against Saracens, in the 2019 Champions Cup final in Newcastle, Leinster have been unstoppable.
They have scored 107 tries against 40, and have scored five tries or more in 50 per cent of their games, which is why we are tipping them at -11 on the handicap.
