Cullen warns Leinster ahead of Edinburgh clash

Leo Cullen wants his Leinster side to be fully aware and prepared for what Edinburgh will bring to the table when the teams meet in the BTK URC this afternoon (3.05pm).

Leinster hold a comfortable lead at the top of the table and could even wrap up the number one seeding, with three rounds remaining, should they win and second-place Stormers lose.

Mike Blair's side, meanwhile, are three places off the play-off positions and need to win and hope the teams ahead of them, Connacht, Cardiff and Benetton, slip up in the run-in.

"Edinburgh had a very strong start to the season and then dipped," Cullen, who this week signed a new two-year deal with the four-time European champions, told RTÉ Sport.

"They’ve gone well in Europe on the flip side, a couple of big wins, against Saracens and Castres [home and away], which means they are in the last 16 and our side of the [Champions Cup] draw.

"Like us, they miss a good chunk of players through the internationals and have players returning these weeks.

"They are coming under the squeeze. It’s for us to understand the motivation of the opposition.

"They’ve got a good record in that stadium. We haven’t played on that astro before so it’s a first for us, the DAM Health Stadium.

"It’s a good challenge for us, we’ve had a few homes games and it’s good for this group to go away and test ourselves in a less familiar environment. We are looking forward to the challenge but it will be tough."

Leinster secured a bonus-point win over Dragons two weeks ago at the RDS but Cullen admitted afterwards that the performance was "patchy" and that expectations are higher.

"We addressed it but what type of performance we get this weekend, we’ll have to wait and see," he added.

"It’s important for us to have focus