Before that, Dan McFarland’s charges bolstered their European Champions Cup prospects with a 31-15 pool stage triumph over a Racing 92 side that are currently being steered by former Leinster senior coach Stuart Lancaster.

Although Tipperary native Jake Flannery won’t be featuring for them on this occasion, the experienced Billy Burns does return at fly-half in an Ulster starting line-up that includes current Irish internationals Rob Herring, Iain Henderson, Stuart McCloskey and Tom O’Toole – as well as South African World Cup winner Steven Kitshoff.

While the eastern province overcame an early red card for Cian Healy to defeat Ulster in last season’s corresponding fixture on December 3, 2022, the visitors had initially seized upon their numerical advantage to lead by 19 points (22-3) during an incident-packed opening half in the RDS.

Doris appeared off the bench in this game and is well aware of what Ulster are capable of if they are afforded time and space on the pitch.

“They were impressive against Racing. I haven’t seen all of the Connacht game yet, but another good win. Their attack, we were looking at bits of it this morning, is very unpredictable. They sort of change direction quite a bit.

“John Cooney, in particular, at nine is very good at spotting opportunities down the short side or snipe opportunities,” Doris remarked at a Leinster media briefing on Thursday.

“They’ve got a very strong set-piece, their scrum and their lineout is pretty impressive and is a weapon they have used quite a bit to good effect in the past. They have good poachers as well throughout. Nick Timoney has been impressive in that area.”

Though Leinster are currently on a run of nine straight victories across the URC and the Champions Cup since their opening round defeat to Glasgow Warriors in the former competition, there is still a sense that Leo Cullen’s men are searching for more consistency over 80 minutes within games in 2023/24.

From Doris’ perspective, this is something that he and his colleagues in both the provincial and international environments are constantly striving for.

The fact that they had already played six games this season in advance of Jacques Nienaber finally taking up his post as senior coach in late November may explain why there is still scope for improvement within this Leinster side.

Yet Doris, who will feature against Ulster after being rested for the St Stephen’s Day victory over Munster at Thomond Park, is confident that things will start to click fully as the term progresses.

“It’s what we’re always chasing down, both in Ireland and in here, an 80-minute performance. There have been plenty of examples of good stuff in a game, but never quite getting the 80-minute performance. It’s hard when you’re playing different quality opposition who are throwing different tricks at you,” Mayo native Doris added.

“A big focus has been, regardless of what has gone before, whether it’s positive or negative, being present and playing what’s in front of you. As clichéd as that is. That’s quite a focus. The more we train together under these new coaches, we’ll get more cohesion and things will naturally come together a little bit better.”

Leinster: J O’Brien; T O’Brien, L Turner, R Henshaw, R Russell; S Prendergast, J Gibson-Park; C Healy, D Sheehan, T Clarkson; J Jenkins, J Ryan; R Baird, W Connors, C Doris.

Replacements: L Barron, J Boyle, M Ala’alatoa, J McCarthy, J van der Flier, L McGrath, H Byrne, J Conan.

Ulster: W Addison; R Baloucoune, L Marshall, S McCloskey, J Stockdale; B Burns, J Cooney; S Kitshoff, R Herring, T O’Toole; K Treadwell, I Henderson; M Rea, S Reffell, N Timoney.

Replacements: T Stewart, A Warwick, S Wilson, A O’Connor, D Ewers, N Doak, M Lowry, J Postlethwaite.