The boys in blue will have to contend with a sold out Kingspan Stadium roaring Ulster on, but after last weekend's nail-biting European semi-final in Toulon, Matt O'Connor's men have had good preparation for the crunch clash.

Win and Leinster give themselves a chance of booking a spot in the GUINNESS PRO12 playoff, but a loss would almost certainly end any hopes of bringing silverware back to Dublin for this season - a fact Kearney is all too aware of.

"We're backed into such a corner now that there's literally no other option but to win," said the 29-year-old.

"We have to come out, we have to fight really strongly, and play well. I think maybe in some regards this week, more so than last week, is a huge character test for us and we need everybody to stand up.

"We lose, we're gone. It's 100% survival. That's exciting sometimes too. Ideally you'd like to be in the top four, but we're not yet.

"It's out of our hands. If we can win this week there will be a slip-up somewhere along the way over the next three weeks with one of the teams in the top four.

"We just have to hope that slip-up favours us."

With a short turnaround from the encounter with Toulon, O'Connor has made four changes to his starting XV with Zane Kirchner replacing the injured Fergus McFadden and Gordon D'Arcy coming in for Ian Madigan.

In the pack Richardt Strauss comes in a hooker, and Dominic Ryan comes in to replace Jordi Murphy at blindside flanker.

The game sees Jamie Heaslip make his 200th appearance for Leinster - after making his debut in 2005 he has started 191 of those games and scored 35 tries.

Meanwhile, Neil Doak has named an unchanged Ulster team from the bonus-point win over Connacht two weeks ago, and warned his side their opposition will carry all their intensity from the agonising Toulon defeat into this clash.

He said: "The advantage they have is, that having played such a big game, they know the level of intensity that they need to bring.

"We saw what Leinster can deliver on Sunday. For 100 minutes they went toe-to-toe with Toulon and we know how difficult a side they have been this season.

"It's a top European game in the GUINNESS PRO12, so the intensity that was brought out on Sunday will be tenfold.

"We can't afford to be off in our intensity or our accuracy. We need to be disciplined and get in the game early.

"We know that Leinster can score points very quickly and they're not afraid to go away from home and deliver."

At Kingspan Stadium, 7.35pm Live on BBC NI/Sky Sports
Referee: John Lacey (IRFU, 44th competition game)
Assistant Referees: Leo Colgan, Olly Hodges (both IRFU)
Citing Commissioner: Eddie Walsh (IRFU)
TMO: Seamus Flannery (IRFU)