Pro14: Ulster and Leinster coaches roll the dice with big calls for final

Leinster are aiming for their third straight Pro14 title while Ulster have not lifted silverware since the 2005-06 Celtic League

If the team news was anything to go by, we are in for one hell of a Pro14 final.

Both Ulster and Leinster have rolled the dice in their selections for the league's delayed 2019-20 showpiece as the inter-provincial rivals meet in the final for the first time since 2013.

It is telling of the fortunes of both teams since that meeting at the RDS, that the game has taken on greater significance for Ulster despite Leinster coming out on top with a 24-18 win.

Since that season, Leinster have reached six finals in all competitions winning four trophies while Ulster have failed to make it to a decider.

• Henderson returns for Pro14 final as Cooney drops to bench

In that time winning has become the expectation at Leinster. To the point where they are facing their 23rd game of the season having won the previous 22, with the assertion that anything other than a Pro14 and European double being viewed as a fair assessment of their standing as opposed to an unreasonably high bar.

Ulster skipper Iain Henderson made no bones about it, Leinster are where his side wants to be.

"It probably has been a surprise to everyone, and a disappointment to everyone, that we haven't been able to proceed to a final since (2013)," said Henderson.

"(Ulster wing) Rob Lyttle chatted about putting an end to the wait, I think we are all kind of feeling that.

"It's probably frustrating for a lot of people that that hasn't happened yet, because we know the direction that we're going."

It would be easy then to conclude that this final means more to Ulster than it does to their opponents, but that idea betrays the very foundation on which Leinster's winning mentality is built.

Leo Cullen's side haven't created their reputation by coasting to finals only to take their foot off the gas.

Leinster's task is to protect and enhance their reputation. Ulster's is to find a way to defeat an undefeated team.

Scrum-half call 'the most difficult selection'

Ulster head coach Dan McFarland made a number of big calls in his team selection.

Moving Jacob Stockdale back to the wing and returning Henderson to the second row after seven months out are among the decisions McFarland and his coaching staff would have pondered long and hard over.

There is no doubt that the single most emotionally challenging decision came at scrum-half, where Alby Mathewson got the nod over John Cooney.

Mathewson's half-time introduction against Edinburgh helped turn the tide in Ulster's favour

Above perhaps anyone else, Cooney has been the face of Ulster's revival in the last two seasons and there is no doubt that he will have felt his stomach drop upon hearing the team news.

It would be advised, however, not to write Cooney out of Saturday's script just yet. If the game is in the balance during the second half then the Dubliner, for whom mental fortitude is such an integral part of the approach, will back himself to come on and make a positive impression.

The fact remains that since the restart Mathewson has produced the better performances, and there can be few criticisms aimed at McFarland for prioritising that over sentiment.

"That was definitively the most difficult selection decision that I've ever been involved in," McFarland admitted.

"They're two excellent number nines and Alby is playing the better rugby at the moment.

"I feel really lucky that us as a club have got two nines of that quality and the fact that we're able to look for John coming off the bench just as Alby did and influence the game."

One captain returns as another moves to the bench

Henderson's timely return was announced exactly a month after Ulster revealed their captain had underwent hip surgery which was set to rule him out until mid-October at the earliest.

Both coach and player insisted that his recall for the final was only considered once Henderson had been registered as fully match-fit, pointing to the fact that the Ireland lock does indeed have previous in returning from injury sooner than expected.

"He's an individual that's different to a lot of players. He's got the capacity to recover from injury like none that I've ever seen before," said McFarland.

Twice last season Henderson dove straight into the deep-end in European Champions Cup fixtures after lay-offs, providing memorably impressive displays to help secure crucial group stage wins.

Ireland second row partners Iain Henderson and James Ryan will line up against each other having recovered quickly from surgeries in August

"I get a bit of grief about it, as soon as I hear a timeline I say 'if that's the timeline you're giving me, what could it be?'," said Henderson.

"I've said this to the physio so many times, I'll be completely honest with him if I'm not feeling right, I'll not continue to do something.

"I had a bit of symptom flare-up right as the start post-operation, and that was the only sort of issue that I had."

There were no such injury concerns for Leinster skipper Jonathan Sexton before the game, and yet the 35-year-old was only named among the replacements with Ross Byrne getting the nod at fly-half.

Byrne started Leinster's recent 28-10 over Ulster

It is almost certain that if Leinster did not have a meeting with reigning European champions Saracens in next week's Champions Cup quarter-finals, Sexton would have started against Ulster.

That said it should be noted that the selection is not Leinster head coach Leo Cullen overlooking Ulster, rather a vote of confidence in Byrne's ability to get the job done.

Again there is precedent here. It was Byrne who steered his province past Ulster in last season's European quarter-final, and again two weeks ago as Leinster coasted to their last regular-season Pro14 win.

No-one could argue that Sexton does not feature in Leinster's strongest XV, but Byrne's selection is hardly a high-risk play from Cullen.

There are interesting sub-plots everywhere you look, and despite the fact that the inter-provincial final will not be played in front of the 50,000 screaming fans that the occasion deserves, everything is in place for a belated, barnstorming curtain call to the Pro14 season.