The Left Wing: Leinster's D-Day, the Prendergast decision & the view from South Africa
Will and Luke get the view from South Africa from former Springbok Bob Skinstad ahead of the URC final while Cian Tracey checks in from Portugal as Andy Farrell's Lions squad begin their preparations.
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Irish Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Gibson-Park maintains Leinster have been improving and are peaking for Bulls
Leinster will take the field with nine Lions among their 13 Irish internationals, eight of whom are on IRFU central contact. Add the best All Black on the planet Barrett and Leinster's in-form but as yet uncapped Tommy O'Brien to make this Jake White has picked a forward-oriented side which has six Springboks in the side albeit none of the big RWC the forwards on the bench look a decidedly weak unit compared to the international Ronan Kelleher, Jack Boyle, Slimani, Snyman, Max Deegan it's ironic that South African rugby has revelled in the Bomb Squad notion, it is Leinster who actually have the heavyweights on the line - it has the ironic feel of somebody offering you an Irish whisky that's been made in talked up out-half Johan Goosen during the week and pointed out he was a teenage 'prodigy' but his career never panned is ability there but Rassie Erasmus hasn't touched him for eight years while scrum-half Embrose Papier is rated by Erasmus either and he hasn't been next nor year a Boks cap for six 'Boks stars in the back are just that, Willie le Roux and Can Moodie but an uncapped centre pairing in David Kriel and Harold Vorster are facing Ringrose and Barrett. "Physicality," says Leinster spinning-top, Six Nations star performers and assuredly Lions first choice no9 when asked to sum up the Bulls threat, "the physicality side of it."They fronted up hugely in a couple of big semi-finals against us previously and, as well as that, they've got a lot of firepower."Out the back there will be Willie Le Roux pulling the strings and although he is a no15 he steps up to first receiver a lot of the time and they've got some other unbelievable backs as well."Leinster, as a group, were not overly agitated by their 'performance' against Glasgow where, to be fair, they were out the gate at 37-5 up with 10 minutes left to play, the match finishing 37-19."From our point of view it was a better overall performance than the Scarlets quarter-final."There are a few different areas that we were happy with, like always a few areas to work on but I think overall the sense was that we're better than we were the week before."It's the final, there's a trophy on the line so it's going to be another level up. The Bulls have had experience in a few finals over the last number of years as well."So they'll be hungry and I think they'll be a different animal again but hopefully one would be ready for and it will be an exciting day in Croke Park."Meanwhile Stephen Ferris, a noted harsh critic of Leinster in the past - perhaps their harshest critic - can't see Bulls having enough to cause a surprise. 'The reality is it will be a huge, huge upset if the Bulls come to Dublin and overturn Leinster and win. "That would make it five years in a row that Leinster have finished a season without a trophy. There is so much to play for. There are so many elements to this Final, it should be a fire-cracker of a game.'There's brilliant match-ups all over the pitch but I can't look any further than the front row."Wilco Louw, Johan Grobbelaar and Jan-Hendrik Wessels destroyed a World-Cup winning front row at Sharks last weekend - now they're up against expected Lions starter Andrew Porter as well as Dan Sheehan and Thomas Clarkson.'The Bulls are very set piece dominant. It's all about the scrum and big guys getting on top of the opposition, eking out penalties, getting good field position and trying to launch off it.' Beating Leinster wouldn't just be down to skill either, it would require a game plan and sticking to it when the heat comes on. 'They can't just give Leinster easy opportunities. It's going to be more about what's between the ears. 'The coaches will be trying to get the mental parity of their players right and to make sure they peak at the right time – to ensure they are not going through the motions but that the attention to detail is absolutely spot on. 'There are some key players for Bulls - Sebastian de Klerk for one, he is in fabulous form. Plus Johan Goosen at 10 who gives them that really strong kicking game and percentages as well." Former Ireland international Ferris is predicting the South African side won't be afraid of the 'three-six-nine' mantra. 'The thing about the Bulls is they are extremely efficient. Expect Bulls to take three points when they are on offer pretty regularly."They might only get three or four (tray-scoring) opportunities in a game - but they will take two of them, they have a high success rate. Leinster will have to sharpen up on their efficiency when they are in the right areas. 'The Bulls will be fully focused on trying to be physically dominant like they were last year, make impact tackles, back their defence and stop Leinster's big runners on the gain line and if they do that hopefully it will stem any flowing attack that Leinster might bring. "I see Leinster winning this by at least one score - I'd really like to see them lift the trophy.' Leinster (v Bulls, Croke Park, 5pm, Saturday, TG4, SuperSport, Premier Sports, Flo Rugby & Jimmy O'Brien, Tommy O'Brien, Garry Ringrose, Jordie Barrett, James Lowe, Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park, Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Thomas Clarkson, Joe McCarthy, James Ryan, Ryan Baird, Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan (CAPT)Replacements: Rónan Kelleher, Jack Boyle, Rabah Slimani, RG Snyman, Max Deegan, Luke McGrath, Ross Byrne, Jamie OsborneVodacom Bulls: Willie le Roux, Canon Moodie, David Kriel, Harold Vorster, Sebastian de Klerk, Johan Goosen, Embrose Papier, Jan-hendrik Wessels, Johan Grobbelaar, Wilco Louw, Cobus Wiese, JF van Heerden, Marco van Staden, Ruan Nortje (CAPT), Marcell CoetzeeReplacements: Akker van der Merwe, Alulutho Tshakweni, Mornay Smith, Jannes Kirsten, Nizaam Carr, Zak Burger, Keagan Johannes, Devon WilliamsReferee: Andrea Piardi (FIR, 55th league game).VERDICT: Leinster to win comfortably, Bulls don't have the bench to extend the game past the hour.
Irish Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Leinster are one win from glory, one loss from the sky falling on their head
Leinster are in the dock at Croke Park, on the northside too, standing accused of not being able to lift that having repeatedly got on-site during four Champions Cup and three URC raids they emerged empty-handed, without any of the silverware or gold medals on offer. Leinster, the club, may have seven of the 10 letters in the word larcenists but, damningly, none of the sticky fingers associated. Welcome to the 2025 URC Grand Final where if Leinster come up empty-handed again, there will be blood on the coaches' dance floor and somebody - either the most successful club coach in Irish history or a double-RWC winning one - will be job-hunting. This is, remember, a club with a dozen 2025 Lions and, notwithstanding Caelan Doris, Will Connors, Robbie Henshaw being injured and ex-Lion Cian Healy retiring, have another dozen players on the Ireland summer are bolstered by a close to €1m package funding All Black Jordie Barrett, double-Rugby World Cup winner RG Snyman and French propping legend Rabah Slimani.A Leinster who may catch all the plaudits, be greatly admired and much feted from near and far, do well off their budget when it is compared to Top 14 clubs and have a wonderful, working, pathway/Academy who, come the pointy end of the season, have repeatedly dropped the ball in semi-finals and finals. It's a mystery. Call Hercule Poirot even if he is Belgian, phone Humphrey Bogart's private eye Philip Marlow, or send for Sherlock Holmes or, how about, his now much-feted teenage sister Enola Holmes if you like and ask them to ask what they make of the puzzle. A good place fore them to start maybe wondering whether Leinster are suffering from being 'Club Ireland'. There is little disguising the Leinster collective having morphed into the Ireland World Cup/Six Nations team with former Leinster Academy man Tadhg Beirne and three southern hemisphere products operating out of Connacht in Bundee Aki, Mack Hansen and Finlay Bealham tagged this translates to, intentionally or not, their seeing club rugby as a way of getting fit and peaking for international rugby then God only knows how they are mentally juggling Leinster-Ireland-Lions. The sheer joy of the Northampton players when they defeated Leinster in the recent Champions Cup semi-final carried over into the after-match proceedings - they were verily bouncing off the walls. A joy rarely seen from Leinster wins these days, there seems to be an auto-pilot in the mix. Whether they celebrate Leinster wins the way they celebrate Ireland wins is worth asking. Leinster assistant coach Jacques Nienaber is the most celebrated Defence Coach in the world. He was Rassie Erasmus's second-in-command for the 'Boks RWC 2019 win and Head Coach for the 'Boks RWC 2023 famously once said his coaching system would take 14 games to bed-in but this was at the start of last if you believe there is no such thing as a 'good' missed tackle or if, being less didactic, believe there is a problem with repeated missed tackles and that there is a certain amount required to be made in each game, then don't get into an argument with Nienaber. Leinster's three quarter-line for this evening's game has Tommy O'Brien who makes 58 percent of his tackles, Ringrose 51 per cent, Barrett 74 percent and James Lowe's 40 percent. This evening's full-back Jimmy O'Brien has a 79 percent tackle completion rate and he may be needed not least as the much criticised defensively Sam Prendergast brings a 50 percent completion rate to the party (Ross Byrne's is 88 percent!).There is a potential explanation of the Northampton loss in there. The Saints had a winger score a hat-trick, a flanker going blind-side and skating past the tackles. 37 points is a helluva lots of points to concede, to have to overhaul in a knockout game. At the same time apologies, that's a negative interpretation as to how rugby should be is a 2025 Lion, the best attacking no13 in Europe if not the world and he will be playing outside the best no12 in the attacking threat is ever-present, not least for his ability to keep the ball alive with inventive, clever offloads and his auxiliary kicking is a feature while Prendergast has a prodigious eye for a set of bigger-picture figures that have to be balanced, weighed up with, say, missing every second or third they are figures suggest that firstly Leinster are flat-track bullies, certainly against the bottom six/seven/eight URC outfits. And secondly, given their quality players can hold onto the ball, that they are very difficult to overhaul once they are this: The IRFU allowed a failed Ireland RWC 2019 to be glossed over when their official report blamed 'Performance Anxiety' - possibly the most infantile concept since nappies. Professional sportsmen are paid to 'perform' and on the back of those performances are in a salary meritocracy. Perform well, get more money, get picked again. How did the Performance Anxiety XV get to the top of the log in the first place?But if there is such a thing as Performance Anxiety, Leinster must have it not so much inadvertently picked as a virus but from the idea of it actually existing. Once you convince yourself it exists, it is too handy a crutch, an easy explanation. A little more practical self-scrutiny might help. Memo to Leinster committee in advent of losing this final, buy the players mirrors for Christmas so they can look at themselves in it. Because, make no mistake, repeated failure to win a tournament is building and building and contrary to accepted common sense. The players are not bad players, the collective have gotten it right most of the time and are able to get themselves into position to win a result the spotlight is turning more and more on coach Leo Cullen and assistant there something fundamentally wrong, not so much with selection based on empirical evidence that the player should have the jersey, but a flawed understanding of their individual make-ups in pressure is, for instance, under IRFU/Andy Farrell instruction that, once both are fit, to pick James Ryan and Joe McCarthy ahead of Snyman; he has more leeway with Barrett but still had to fill a quota for the Henshaw-Ringrose pairing. Moreover Cullen was told that the onus was on him to pick Prendergast this season, to bring him on with Ireland in mind, have him ready for the November series and first-choice by the Six is unlikely Cullen could have jettisoned Prendergast for the final had he wanted to but it is telling Ross Byrne is on the bench in a five-three split and not Ciaran Frawley or Jamie Osborne in a has the option to withdraw Prendergast if he wishes; if this isn't going well in the first-half, it will be a measure of this current management's decisiveness as to when they start to change the as it mightn't need Poirot, Marlow, Sherlock and Enola to detect, that really would be the point where the sky was falling on their that's a bit panicky, premature, apologies as Leinster take the field as massive favourites to win a game against a Bulls side who are an extremely blunt instrument and have very little matching the skill-levels and experience the Blues possess. Leinster can be backed at 1/5 - and most likely can only defeat themselves. Performance Anxiety, you ol' ambusher...
Irish Daily Mirror
3 hours ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Leinster vs Bulls - the numbers game, how the teams stack up
Have some fun with the URC Grand Final between Leinster and Bulls at Croke Park today. Which team had scored the most tries, the most turnovers. Here we bring you the definite numbers breakdown for the big match 4 - There will be a fourth different winner in four seasons, following on from Glasgow (2024), Munster (2023) and Stormers (2022) 8 - Leinster are a record eight-times URC title winners 9 - The amount of lineout steals won by Max Deegan this season, RG Snyman and JF van Heerden have six each 10 - Jamison Gibson-Park's impressive number of try-assists 18 - Average defenders beaten by Bulls per URC game 19 - Canan Moodie has made the most line-breaks between the players on these two teams. Sebastian de Klerk has 18, David Kriel 15, Jamie Osborne and Tommy O'Brien 12 21.5 - Average defenders beaten by Leinster per URC game 32 - Italian referee Andrea Piardi's age. This is his third Grand Final and he will be in charge of the Australia-Lions second Test in July 43 - RG Snyman has made the most off-loads in the URC this season. It was enough to get him on the 2025 Dream Team. Jamie Osborne was the only other Leinster player to make the Dream Team. 80 - URC tries scored by Bulls this season, Canan Moodie top scorer with nine 89 - URC Tries scored by Leinster this season, Dan Sheehan and Jamie Osborne have seven apiece 98 - Average carries by Bulls per game, the lowest in the URC 136 - Average carries by Leinster per URC game 144 - Leinster have won more turnovers - 31 in the tackle, 33 lineout steals and 64 jackals - than any other team this season 151/152 - The side have met six times previously and while the Bulls have won four they have only managed one more point over all. the record against each other is Bulls 152, Leinster 151 359 - Defenders beaten by Bulls this season 429 - Defenders beaten by Leinster this season 609 - Points scored by Bulls this season 612 - URC points scored by Leinster this season 730 - Bulls Canan Moodie has made the most metres of any player in the two squads in the URC this season. Jamie Osborne is next with 709, Jimmy O'Brien 651, Sebastian de Klerk 616.
