Stuart Lancaster believes Saturday's top-of-the-table clash between Leinster and Ulster has come at an ideal time for both provinces as their Ireland stars return ahead of a busy period of interprovincial and European action.
The two leading teams in the BKT United Rugby Championship collide at the RDS, with Leinster chasing a ninth straight victory.
Ulster's only defeat this season came at home to Leinster in round three and since then they have won four games on the bounce to leave them eight points behind their neighbours with a game in hand.
It is 12 months since Ulster’s last visit to the RDS, where they came away with a 20-10 victory and went on to complete a double over Leinster last season.
"They’ve got good players coming back in – [Duane] Vermeulen played last week, Iain Henderson came off the bench," said Leinster senior coach Lancaster.
"You look across their team now and it’s a very strong team who are operating at the top end of Europe, there’s no doubt in my mind. That’s how high I rate them.
"It’s a proper challenge but one that both teams probably want and need at this point of the season. The want to go against each other because URC points are massive, it’s first vs second, and we’re on the cusp of Europe and some more intepros post that.
"It’s great timing in terms of us getting our internationals back and they have as well."
Leinster’s Ireland contingent returned to training on Monday along with James Lowe and Jordan Larmour, who have recovered from calf and foot injuries respectively, and Lancaster warned there is no room for complacency after the province’s young guns stepped up in their absence.
Rob Russell helped himself to a hat-trick against Glasgow last weekend with the likes of Rob Russell and Liam Turner also impressing.
"The list is endless really of players who have played well," said Lancaster. "It forces the Ireland players to come back in and make sure they hit the right standard and pick up where they left off.
"There’s no room for complacency from them because everyone wants to play in the big games. We’ve got Ulster coming up this weekend and Europe around the corner.
"It’s always a challenging period, but a good one. You’re refilling your room with experienced players who just came off a three-game winning series in November. They’ve had a week’s break so they’re all excited to be back in.
"The muscle memory has kicked in and they’ve remembered all the plays and calls. Day one was today [Monday]. Day two tomorrow will be the real acid test, we’ll put them under pressure."
Leinster are the top-scorers in this season’s URC and have averaged almost five tries per game. They ran in six against Glasgow and have shown a remarkable consistency in attack despite regularly rotating their squad.
"It is hard sometimes when you’re constantly changing the team to get the cohesion that’s required to break down modern defences and score almost five tries a game," said Lancaster.
"It is credit to the amount of work the coaches put in, but also the lads put in themselves. The way we train helps, including the younger players and rotate the opportunities in training, so when people do step in they well prepared and ready to go.
"That's a big thing for us but also the expectation of delivering because of the competition, the pressure internally to play well."
Watch Connacht v Benetton live on RTÉ1 and RTÉ Player from 2.45pm on Saturday
