Inside Leinster's boozy celebrations as stars dance on team bus while leaving Croke Park as URC champs

The Irish Sun

10 hours ago

LEINSTER'S players got to bask in a job well done as they partied into the evening following their victory over Bulls in the URC Grand Final.
The Blues
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Players got to don eyewear to protest themselves from all over the champagne that was being sprayed around the dressing room
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French international Rabah Slimani captioned this snap with Andrew Porter 'Champions mon frere'
Credit: @slim_rab
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He then led them in a French sing-song on the team bus
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They partied into the night at the RDS
Credit: @leinsterrugby
A forward-inspired victory was largely done in the first half as Jack Conan, Jordie Barrett and Josh van der Flier scored before rookie Fintan Gunne's late try.
The crowd of 46,127 - a record attendance for an Irish final in the competition - showed the public interest, as did the smiles of
Would everyone of a Leinster persuasion prefer a Champions Cup? Absolutely.
But after four years of hurt, and seeing and hearing the pleasure the Leinster-haters out there take from it, it was a win that was savouried.
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And it was also never in doubt the way they tackled the game and tackled the Bulls, with player of the match Ryan Baird leading by example.
Afterwards Cullen insisted his players now deserve to be written up as winners after being written off as failures.
After three Champions Cup final losses, it bothered Cullen that his men were being called failures, which is why winning this one mattered so much.
He said: 'You get told the losers of the finals are failures. When you get to the last two, I think you should celebrate both.
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"We've been on the flip side in the past, that the team were failures and I personally don't think that was the case.'
But Baird admitted that the final losses of the past had put pressure on Leinster this week.
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He said: 'I found it toughest this week. I felt the pressure. I think a lot of us did.
'But we kept coming back to what got us here, moment by moment, inch by inch, and every time I saw someone else make a tackle, it gave me energy to make another one myself.
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'It's been a long time coming to win a trophy with this team in front of a full stadium. Last time we did, it was during Covid.'
Captain Conan put it down to the team fronting up on the evening.
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This triumph will act as a welcome tonic to wash out the pain from their Champions Cup semi-final loss to Northampton
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Youngster Fintan Gunne got a helping hand in this funny snap
Credit: @leinsterrugby
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They had an extra bit of fun by doing a second trophy lift atop the Hogan Stand in true GAA fashion
He said: 'It's putting your head where you wouldn't put a shovel. Ultimately, it's a physical game, it's what we teed ourselves up for all week.'
Bulls coach Jake White admitted his side ran into a Leinster side that produced their best rugby of the season in the first half.
White said: 'We were never going to win that game once they got that 14-0 start.
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'We got the 40 minutes the Leinster supporters were waiting for the whole season. It was like watching a horror movie, and you hope the ending will be different.
'This was Test-level rugby. Leinster normally have 23 internationals, today they were short, they only had 22. They are a phenomenal team. That is probably the best Leinster team ever.'