 |  |  |  |  |  |
 |  |  |  |  |  |
 |  |  |  |  |  |
 |  |  |  |  |  |
 |  |  | |  |  |
 |  |  |  |  |  |
|  |  |  |  |  |
 |  |  | |  |
"I feel confident that I'll be ready in time," said Henry.
"I travelled with the squad to Portugal earlier this week and, although I trained by myself most of the time with some of the back-room staff, everything came on really well.
"With another week to go before the game I will get myself right up to speed and will be throwing my hat into the ring for selection."
Henry's availability is a major plus for head coach Brian McLaughlin who described the former club captain as his most consistent performer in the three years he has spent as Ulster boss.
Henry picked up his club's Player of the Year award at last week's season-ending dinner at the Culloden Hotel in Belfast having played in all seven of Ulster's Heineken Cup games prior to the semi-final success.
The Irish international started each of the pool games against ASM Clermont Auvergne, Leicester Tigers and Aironi and the quarter-final win over Munster at Thomond Park to take his total number of Heineken Cup appearances to 23 in four seasons.
But even with Henry apparently fit and raring to go, McLaughlin admits he won't be rushing into selection ahead of Saturday's all-Irish showpiece.
The Heineken Cup 1999 winners have just enjoyed a weekend off after narrowly missing out on the PRO12 play-offs, while Leinster battled past Glasgow at the RDS two days ago.
McLaughlin was always hopeful the extended break would allow the likes of Henry the chance to overcome their knocks but he insists the performance of a number of youngsters in the Pro12 defeat to Munster a fortnight ago has shown he has plenty of options throughout his squad.
"We went out to Munster and put a little bit of experience in the team to try and bring our young guys on. The result was very disappointing but there were some exceptionally positive things to come out of it," said McLaughlin.
"Iain Henderson played his first game at six at this level and had a good game. Iain showed that he's well capable of playing at this level.
"Those little positive things make you think about selection. You can't just rush in and pick a side, there's always things you have to talk about and these are things you have to get 100 per cent right. Some boys played very well that day, some boys put their hands up and you've got to consider those things."
