2 days ago
White feels 'stars are aligned' as Bulls look to inflict more URC pain on Leinster
THE SUN BROKE through just as the Bulls team bus pulled into St Mary's RFC in Templeogue yesterday morning.
It was a low-key outing for a team hoping to inflict further devastation on Leinster in Saturday's URC Grand Final [KO 5pm]. A gym session was followed by some pitch work in front of an empty stand, bar one lucky young supporter who waited by the dressing room entrance with a ball and marker, every player stopping to fill the white spaces on his souvenir.
Upstairs on a sunny patio, head coach Jake White shook hands and briefed the media on his team's travels from South Africa and their plans for the week, having touched down in Dublin on Monday evening – early enough for the Bulls boss to tune into RTÉ's 'Against the Head' from his hotel room. A relaxed start to the biggest week of the Bulls' season.
Keagan Johannes and Harold Vorster sign autographs. Bryan Keane / INPHO Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO
This is a group who know all about finals rugby, having featured in two of the three previous URC deciders – losing to the Stormers in 2022 and Glasgow last year. Finally getting over the line this time around is not their only source of motivation. Last month, the organisation was rocked by the news that Cornal Hendricks had passed away at the age of 37. The former Springbok had wrapped up his playing career with the Bulls just last season. The South African side retired the number 14 jersey for the remainder of this campaign in his honour. That number, 14, also struck White as he did his research ahead of this weekend's trip to Croke Park.
'He died on the 14th of May, and Saturday we play on the 14th of June,' White said.
It's quite an ominous number. Funny enough, I was doing a bit of homework and I read that Bloody Sunday, 14 people died at Croke Park. It's quite amazing that the number 14 comes up.
'A lot of these boys probably haven't understood what the significance of Croke Park means in history and to be fair, if I am being really honest, I told them not to comment or to be sucked in to anything that would lead anyone to read it the wrong way.
'Everyone has a feeling about it and for us the fact that it is the 14th of the month, that when I read it was 14 people I thought, jeez, it was quite spooky, you know? He dies on the 14th of May. I think his son was born on the 14th of December.
Advertisement
Bulls head coach Jake White. Bryan Keane / INPHO Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO
'There is a lot of relevance, the number 14 not being used this weekend. Sometimes you need that. You guys are from Ireland and look what Munster did in the time that they lost their coach (Anthony Foley) and how quickly the reason why just turned the way Munster became for that year.
'Stars are aligned. Hopefully we will use that in our favour.'
The Bulls are embracing the underdog tag but come to Dublin with history on their side, having knocked Leinster out of the semi-finals twice (2022 and 2024). The fixture has grown into a tasty rivalry, and yesterday, White spoke glowingly about the province.
I will tell you something, there is no doubt Leinster are the benchmark of what I do and how I prepare, and the benchmark of what's happened at the club.
'We have had three Springbok coaches coach the Bulls: myself, John Williams and Heyneke Meyer. I would hate to know, and I haven't looked for any other reason, but I wonder how many international coaches have coached Leinster. I'm sure it's a lot more than three.
'Leinster have proven over the years how they recruit, how they play. Look at a guy like Leo Cullen, he is a fantastic role model for what Leinster is all about. He has captained them, he has coached them. He epitomises Leinster. I can only praise them. A lot of teams are trying to emulate what they have done, how they've done it and how they have gone about their business because there's no doubt they are the bench make of where we want to get to.'
And yet it's the Bulls who have been more prominent when it comes to this part of the season, with Cullen's men preparing to play in their first URC final. White might look at Leinster's resources with some envy, but he's forged a group who feel comfortable and confident when it comes to playing knockout rugby.
Ticket sales for Saturday's final were pushing 30,000 after the first day of public sale, with URC organisers hoping to land around 40,000 come the weekend – upper tier tickets starting at €30 were released Tuesday afternoon. Most of those will be in Leinster blue, but the Bulls feel past experience can stand to them in an away final.
'This group of players have probably far exceeded expectations of anybody in the last four years,' White continued.
The Bulls held a gym session at St Mary's. Bryan Keane / INPHO Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO
'I'm not for one minute saying we're not aware of the fact that we've had three finals, but we're aware of the fact that we've exceeded everything that anyone has expected, and we've batted above our weight for a long time. Hopefully this game will be the one where we will learn from the two other opportunities we had to win a competition like this.'
'It would be massive for us (to win on Saturday),' he added.
'I've read about the top 15 clubs and the budgets they have and we weren't mentioned in that top 15. Leinster, Toulouse, those sort of clubs would be considered the top clubs in the world.
'It would be massive for us, for this club too because I think playing in three finals in four years shows that they're good enough. But I've been around enough to know there's not a service award, you don't just get to win trophies because you play in finals.
'A lot of people think that 'it's your third final', surely this is the one you win, but you could play in 10 finals and never win. I've coached in France, seen teams that played in finals… I mean, Racing Metro – how many European Cups have they won? None. There was a time Racing Metro were an incredible team and they still couldn't get over the line.
'It made me realise that there's no right to win these games, sometimes you can play many, many finals and not get over the line. So, to get over the line would be incredible for us. It would be a massive achievement, especially for this group because I still don't think they are where they need to be or where they could be.'
Leinster might just feel the same way, and the pressure is certainly on the home side given their growing number of painful losses in knockout games.
'We're under pressure too,' White countered. 'People will say the Bulls have lost one (URC final) at home that people expected us to win, so it depends which side of the coin you look at.
They're a quality team. I know you guys are harsh on them and I read in between the lines what the expectation is, but they're still a very, very well-coached team. They're still a team that's revered by the teams in the competition.
'I said it from day one, when I saw them get a good start (in the URC) and go five points, five points, five points… my message for the last four or five months was 'If you think you're good enough to beat Leinster away, then you've got to win all these games to get to the final', which we've now done. The question I've said to them this week is, 'you've said you're going to beat Leinster away, now let's see how good we are'.
'That's been coming for four months, because it was inevitable that they were going to get first place because no one was going to catch them. It's now D-day for us, to do what we said we were going to do.'
