Looking towards Saturday's Pro14 Grand Final: Leinster vs Ulster

It’s an all-Irish affair on Saturday as Leinster take on Ulster for the title of Pro14 Champions.

The rivalry is steeped in history and of quite some significance as it happens to be the oldest one in Ireland, the first match between the two taking place in 1875.

It is also worth pointing out that the first Ireland international side was also made up exclusively of Leinster and Ulster representatives.

Leinster have enjoyed a dream season thus far, not tasting the bitterness of defeat once as they romped to 16 consecutive victories.

Ulster, on the other hand, have had a more difficult time of it, winning only 9 of their 16 outings. What matters, however, if that Iain Henderson’s charges have done what needed to be done to face their domestic foes on the field in the last and most noteworthy fixture of this season’s competition.

They have faced each twice already; first, in Round 8, and again in Round 15.

The Round 8 clash was a delight for rugby fans as the teams produced a 14-try festival of attacking rugby at RDS.

Leinster claimed the honours 54-42 and looked well-away in the first half already before the Ulster machine clicked into gear and mounted an impressive comeback which almost had them in with a chance.

In Round 15, the teams ran out onto the Aviva Stadium and forged a more conservative, lower-scoring spectacle with Leinster defeating their opponents 28-10.

It was a dominant performance in so far as Leinster were never behind on the scoreboard, although the notion that Ulster were out of the game was only felt right at the closing stages.

Out of the 100 occasions the sides have met, Leinster have put together an impressive 60 victories while Ulster have just 34. Six times the final whistle has sounded with the scores level. Saturday will make it a trio of meetings between these two great clubs for the season and, while the majority of factors look to be in Leinster’s favour, finals can be tricky affairs, especially one involving the depth of history, tradition and emotion as this one does.