Bulls underline status as SA's best as they prepare to face Leinster in URC final

Daily Maverick

4 hours ago

Leinster will host the Bulls in the United Rugby Championship final at Croke Park in Dublin next week.
The Bulls will contest the United Rugby Championship (URC) final for a third time in four years, underlining their status as South Africa's leading club.
Their 25-13 semifinal win over the Sharks at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday was a victory for character and nous, as much as it was for skill.
Jake White's team were reduced to 12 men shortly before halftime, with the sin bin briefly resembling a bus queue with so many Bulls players in it. Yet they repelled waves of Sharks assaults on their line in the 10 minutes either side of halftime, which ultimately won the game.
The prize for the Bulls is a trip to Dublin this week where they will meet Irish giants Leinster in the final at Croke Park.
Leinster finally qualified for their first URC final after a resounding 37-19 win over Glasgow at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin in Saturday's first semifinal.
It sets up a repeat of the 2022 semifinal when the Bulls surprised Leinster with a 27-26 win at the RDS Arena in Dublin. That day Leinster rested star flyhalf Johnny Sexton, thinking they could handle the Bulls on home ground, and found out the hard way the penalty for hubris. They won't make the same mistake again.
Next step
The Bulls finished second on the standings after the round robin phase, with Leinster top. The URC's top two seeds will contest the Grand Final for the first time.
For Jake White and the Bulls the challenge will be a mighty one as Leinster, despite their recent trophy drought, are formidable.
The Irish club have been in three Champions Cup finals in the past four years and have now qualified for their first URC final after three successive semifinal defeats.
Despite losing those three Champions Cup finals, they are the gold standard.
In a quirk of the URC, no No 1 seed has even won the title in its three completed seasons. Leinster could change that stat this weekend.
While the challenge for the Bulls is difficult, White knows they are running out of excuses.
The Sharks won the SA Shield, the prize for being the leading South African club in the URC group phase, but the Bulls are this country's standard bearers.
For three seasons White has talked about his team 'learning' and 'gaining experience'. That excuse has run its course. They are ready to win, the building blocks have been put down and they are as complete as they are going to be even without a few stars.
'It is obviously a massive win for us as a club, and we are into another final. So, that is three finals in four years, and any club would tell you that is a massive achievement,' White said.
The Bulls will be heading to Dublin without Bok No 8 Cameron Hanekom who sustained a bad hamstring injury in the semifinal victory over the Sharks.
Kurt-Lee Arendse, thanks to his stint in Japan during the URC season, remains ineligible for the playoffs. Outside of that though, the Bulls are at full strength.
'When it (the leg) is swollen and there's blood on it, it is tough to see,' White said about Hanekom's injury.
'The doctors had a look and he won't play next week (in the final), that I can tell you. Cameron thinks he can. He said he might go to the same doctor (Johan) Goosen went to.
'He can't travel with such an injury. I'm hoping for his sake it's like Goosen – a short-term rather than a long-term injury.'
Discipline
One aspect is clear though – the Bulls will not win in Dublin if their discipline is as poor as it was against the Sharks at Loftus.
Centre Harold Voster, Hanekom and flank Marcell Coetzee were yellow-carded between the 28th and 39th minutes, leaving them three men down at one stage, and two men down for nine minutes.
The Bulls showed great character to defend their line in that period, as the Sharks pounded away in search of a try. It was a brilliant period of tenacity, but not something the Bulls will want to repeat against a team of Leinster's calibre.
'I think we won that game in the five minutes before halftime when we had 12 men on the field,' White said.
'In those five minutes before halftime with 12 men, it did not look like they were going to score and that is a massive boost to the defence coach and players. I told them in the changeroom that is where we won it.'
Leinster pressure
In a way the Bulls have nothing to lose as Leinster will be under pressure, given home-ground advantage and the scar tissue of three Champions Cup final losses in the past four seasons.
Leinster led 37-5 against Glasgow but conceded two late tries when the game was won. Their finish left a sour taste for captain Jack Conan.
'Even though it was good today it was disappointing to concede those two ties close to the end, and there's lots of things we want to get better at,' Conan said after the match.
'It will all count for nothing if we don't go on and win again and show that level of dominance that we did today. We're not getting ahead of ourselves, we know it is going to be a tough task next week.
'We always knew we had it in us,' said Conan. 'It has obviously been a trying few weeks and a bit of disappointment and we said we want to go out there and be our best. We prepped well all week and the message from the coaches and players was spot-on.'
Head coach Leo Cullen admitted the pressure is on Leinster.
'We always feel like we have a point to prove,' Cullen said. 'Certainly I do anyway. Because that's just the nature of the job I'm in and the team are in a pretty similar situation, so listen, we would love to go out and win every week.
'What have we played this season now? Eighteen regular season games and two knockout games, four pool Champions Cup games and three knockouts. What's that, 27 games, next week we get to play a 28th. A perfect season you get to play 29.
'We will get to play 28, we have lost three. Every week you play you feel like you have a point to prove. I don't think it's hugely different, to be honest.' DM
Overall URC head-to-head between Bulls and Leinster (as of 8 June 2025)
Match Results (most recent first)