Les Kiss not taking victory against Leinster as a given

Ulster coach Les Kiss understands that Leinster are still smarting from the 30-6 pummelling they took in the recent Guinness Pro12 match.

He is also aware that the use of the word "predictable" by his defence coach, Joe Barakat, to describe Leinster's attacking patterns during a mid-match television interview might have ruffled a feather or two.

Barakat merely expressed a view that many watching might not have contradicted. But in the sporting firmament, motivational material has many sources.

Kiss elaborated: “It was a good win, without a doubt. But I’ve got to say that Leinster were probably a little bit underdone. They had some guys that hadn’t played a lot of footy.

Building a mindset

“I think they’ll be in a far better place,” Kiss added, “and I know what they’ve got up on the wall. Leinster think that Ulster think that Leinster’s predictable. We don’t think that. We just know that on that day they weren’t the type of team they are. They’ll be building an attitude and a mindset around that.

“We’re likely to expect a lot more of the tactical kicking game. They will not be the same team we played here, and I don’t just mean the personnel. I mean the type of game they’ll play.

"I'm wary," Kiss admitted. "They are a very good attacking team. We know what Ben Te'o gives them in terms of momentum. We managed to control Garry Ringrose last time, but he's fleet of foot, and if you give him space he can really hurt you. I do expect an aerial battle. I think they'll put the ball in the air with some tricky kicks.

“Without a doubt, the set- piece battle will be important. I wouldn’t say it’s an area that I’m worried about, but it’ll be key, at times. If it’s not quite right, we like to think we can play away from it pretty well.

“We built a little bit of momentum and it’s made it easier because we’re not trying to fix a lot of things. We want to manage things and improve things, and hopefully we can negate what they do well.”

Ulster enter Friday’s semi-final at the RDS on the back of four victories, but Kiss isn’t dwelling on that statistic.

“Momentum can hit a brick wall pretty quickly. We’ve got to respect Leinster at home because if we don’t and go there below 100 per cent they’ll hurt us. I do think it’s important for us to keep nailing the basics well.

“If you’re working hard on and off the ball like we have been, if you can stay strong mentally and work through some adversity, you’ve a chance.”