Ulster recorded a famous 22-21 win earlier this year against Leinster, but for Saturday’s meeting, they will be without five of the starters from that game at the RDS with injuries ravaging the squad.
Leinster, who sit second in the table, have been much improved since that loss, but with a Champions Cup final against Toulouse next weekend, Leo Cullen has opted to rest several key players.
McCloskey knows that Leinster will still pose a big threat, but he hopes Ulster’s own recent good form after a three-game winning streak can help them over the line.
“Whatever team they’ll bring it will be a tough task, but realistically we just want a win, get into the play-offs and give ourselves a chance,” McCloskey explained.
“We really needed it [a winning run], we were at the bottom of the well after the Clermont loss and we knew we would need 14 or 15 points out of the next three games to give ourselves a chance to get into the play-offs.
“We need to go now and deliver at home which we have done over the years. Not many teams have done the double over Leinster in recent years, and we’ve taken learnings of what went well and what didn’t go well [in January] and we’ll try squeeze out a narrow victory.”
