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Leo Cullen wary of 'scheming' Ulster who welcome back Ireland star
By Simon Thomas
Having racked up 114 points without conceding a single score in crushing Champions Cup knock-out victories over Harlequins (62-0) and Glasgow (52-0), league leaders Leinster now return to BKT URC action.
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That means a derby day Aviva Stadium clash with play-off contenders Ulster who are sixth in the table going into the weekend.
Leinster’s Ireland second row Joe McCarthy commented: “We’ll take a lot of confidence from the last two games, but we really want to keep that momentum going.
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“We know Ulster have been sort of scheming for the last two weeks, not having a game last weekend, so they’ll have a good plan for us.
“I always feel they kind of raise their level against us. They always really want to get one over us, so we’ll definitely have to be at our best.
“There’s always huge intensity and anyone can win on the day. We know that with Ulster. Last season, they turned us over twice. It will be extremely intense and they’ll be coming to try and knock us over in the Aviva, but we’ll be ready for it.”
Ulster welcome back the versatile Cormac Izuchukwu, who lines up in the second row, and centre Jude Postlethwaite from injury, with their coach Richie Murphy declaring: “We are preparing to go down there and win the game. We have a clear plan and it’s up to us to see if we can implement that and put them under pressure.”
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Ulster: 15. Michael Lowry, 14. Zac Ward, 13. Jude Postlethwaite, 12. Stuart McCloskey, 11. Jacob Stockdale; 10. Jack Murphy, 9. Nathan Doak; 1. Andrew Warwick, 2. Rob Herring, 3. Tom O’Toole, 4. Alan O’Connor (c), 5. Cormac Izuchukwu, 6. James McNabney, 7. Nick Timoney, 8. David McCann
Replacements: 16. Tom Stewart, 17. Callum Reid, 18. Scott Wilson, 19. Matthew Dalton, 20. Kieran Treadwell, 21. John Cooney, 22. Stewart Moore, 23. Matty Rea
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