Edinburgh will also still be without Duhan van der Merwe for the one-off tie at the Aviva Stadium. Everitt suggested a couple of weeks ago that the Scotland winger had a chance of making his comeback in the match in Dublin, but the coach has now accepted that the 30-year-old needs more time to get over the ankle problem that ruled him out of the end of the Six Nations Championship.

“Duhan’s not available this weekend,” Everitt confirmed. “He has returned to running. I’m not sure [when he will be back] – I’m hoping in the next two weeks. 

“He had a flare-up on his ankle. It happened in the Six Nations and he’s just doing some extra rehab on that to strengthen the muscles around the ankle.”

With Wes Goosen set to miss the remainder of the season, Everitt has limited options in the back three. Piers O’Conor played at full-back in the loss to the Stormers and looks likely to remain there, while Malelili Satala and Darcy Graham could keep their places on the wings. The versatile Jack Brown, an unused substitute in Cape Town, could be on the bench again.

In the pack, Ben Muncaster has a chance of being passed fit and taking Bradbury’s place in the back row. D’arcy Rae – who like Muncaster missed the Stormers match after being injured against the Lions a week earlier –  may also return.

“We’re hoping that Ben Muncaster will be available,” Everitt added. “He’ll be seeing a doctor tonight and hopefully he’ll get cleared medically. And then we could announce him on our team.  

“D’arcy Rae should be ready. It’s also [about] how he came through his session today. And we’ll make a call on him tomorrow morning to see if there’s been any flare-ups.”

Luke Crosbie has been added as a registered player to Edinburgh’s official EPCR squad and is close to completing his return from a hamstring injury, but it looks like he will have to wait until one of his team’s remaining league games later in April before making his return to action. “Luke’s not quite ready yet, so probably not going to play this week,” Everitt said. “But we’re hoping that he’ll be available.” 

The matchday 23 will not be named until Friday, although the coach did reveal that Ross Thompson will hold on to the No 10 jersey in preference to Cammy Scott.

“We’ve got to look at continuity this week,” Everitt said. “The reason being is that we’ve travelled and we’ve played together. Ross’s field-kicking has been really good for us over the last couple of weeks. 

“Cammy does run the attack well, and fair play to him for that. It’s just that we’ve settled with Ross at the moment.” 

No matter who Everitt selects in the end, Leinster will go into the game as overwhelming favourites to reach the quarter-finals of a tournament they have won four times. But, with their hopes of reaching the URC play-offs now over, the visitors can throw everything they have got into this match.

 “We’ve got nothing to lose,” the coach claimed. “We know that Europe does determine whether Leinster have a successful season or not, so we know that the pressure is on them to perform.

“At the same time, we’re alive in a competition and dead in another one. We’ve got everything to play for too. 

“I thought we did well against them for the most part of the game at the Aviva the last time we played them,” he continued, referring to the 28-20 league defeat at the end of January. “But it’s a different team that we’re playing. They’ll have their internationals back, where they were missing several when we played them the last time. 

“There’s a hunger within this group, and I think you saw it for 62 minutes against the Stormers. And it’s not that we rolled over and died against them.. We were up, we had a try disallowed, we managed the game well against a kick-heavy team and we won the territory battle in that game. And that’s going to be important against Leinster on Sunday.”