Leinster scrum coach John Fogarty said any potential move for Joey Carbery or Ross Byrne to Ulster will ultimately come down to the player.

The Sunday Times report that Joe Schmidt and the IRFU are keen to see one of the province's back-up out-halves move north to replace Paddy Jackson.

They also claim the IRFU performance director David Nucifora has spoken with head coach Leo Cullen and told him he must make a choice between keeping Byrne (below) or Carbery.

Fogarty stopped short of confirming those rumours, but used the examples of Jordi Murphy and Tadgh Beirne to stress how a change of surroundings can help a player to progress.

"We're not in the business of keeping or holding back players; we're in the business of trying to find, grow and develop players for Leinster and Ireland," he told RTÉ Sport.

"There'll be ongoing conversations I've no doubt with the players' best interests at heart, but ultimately... the players will have their say.

"Leo and Joe would have a very good relationship. Ultimately the player has a decision to make. From our end we're focusing on making sure we're giving time to the player and making sure the player is developing.

"Jordi Murphy is going to Ulster this year. He's grown up here, he's been brilliant for us - brilliant. He wanted more game time and he's made the decision himself to go to Ulster.

"Tadgh Beirne (now with Scarlets but bound for Munster in the summer) was someone we didn't quite have enough game time for in the past.

"We as a coaching group sat down with he player and the decision was made for him to leave Leinster. He's gone on to be hugely successful and we're delighted for him.

"All we can do here is put the best environment around them, help them to develop, give them game time and watch them be successful. That's what we try to do."

The vibes are good around Leinster right now. They swatted Scarlets side in the Champions Cup semi-final on Saturday to set up a Bilbao showdown against Racing 92 in the decider.

On the same day, Leinster 'A' reeled in the Jersey Reds to book their spot in the British and Irish Cup final, and Fogarty admitted everyone has a pep in their step.

Next up is Connacht at the Sportsground, where the home faithful will salute their great servant John Muldoon, who makes his final appearance for the Westerners before retirement. Coming in to that one off such a glorious high at a sun-soaked Lansdowne Road will test Leinster's focus, and Fogarty expects them to be ready.

"Everyone looks forward to coming in after a win. As an organisation, we're in a good spot. That's what we've worked all season for, to be able to put ourselves in a position to be successful, and ultimately to win something.

"We need to deal with the emotion of last week and now focus our attention on preparing to play in a game that's going to be hugely emotional, with John Muldoon finishing his career on Connacht.

"We do a job in Galway, we can then step back into the Champions Cup and take some time to prepare, because we're going to need to. As we saw against Munster at the weekend, Racing were ferocious in that first half."