This all-Irish encounter kicks off the United Rugby Championship play-offs as two teams under pressure to produce go head-to-head in Belfast.
Both provinces are ambitious, have external and internal expectations placed on them and should really have won more silverware than they have, which means this match is particularly important.
Ulster have performed consistently well in the PRO14/URC under the guidance of Dan McFarland but that has yet to result in a trophy. That is perhaps difficult when you have to contend with the might of Leinster, who have dominated the competition over the past few years, but they haven’t really closed the gap over the last couple of seasons.
In 2019/20 and 2020/21, the Dubliners stood in their way as Leo Cullen’s charges defeated the Ulstermen in the 2020 final before they then topped Conference A ahead of McFarland’s side a year later, despite the men from Belfast losing just two of their 16 regular season matches.
They have struggled to recapture the form of the previous couple of campaigns but they sill finished in third position in 2021/22 and face a team that, if anything, have regressed under Johann van Graan.
Munster were unfortunate to go out of the Champions Cup to Toulouse at the quarter-final stage but they were, quite frankly, never going to defeat Leinster in the last-four in any case.
For a team with such history and a huge fan base – both in terms of numbers and passion – they have not won anything of note in over a decade.
With Van Graan departing for Bath at the end of the season, he and the players will want to end his tenure on a high note, but they will find it tough at the Kingspan Stadium.
It is a tough game to call with plenty riding on the result, so expect a tight
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