Latest news with #BKTURCGrandFinal
Irish Daily Mirror
31-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Leinster and Munster to resume rivalry at Croke Park early in the new URC season
Leinster and Munster will lock horns again at Croke Park early in the new BKT URC season. Reigning champs Leinster won the meeting of the sides at GAA HQ last October, with a record 80,468 crowd for a URC game seeing the hosts claim a 26-12 victory as they outscored their rivals by four tries to two. It was the first meeting of the provinces at the iconic stadium since their 2009 Heineken Cup semi-final, also won by Leinster. With the RDS Arena still being redeveloped - Leinster will return there for the start of the 2026/27 season - the province will be playing at the Aviva Stadium and Croke Park again next season and the latest meeting of the blues and the reds takes place on Saturday, October 18 (5.15pm). The round 4 interpro will be Leinster's first trip back to Croke Park since the BKT URC Grand Final against the Vodacom Bulls in June, which Leinster won 32-7. Leinster have also released details of their early season programme, kicking off with a two-game assignment in South Africa against the Stormers (Friday, 26 September) and the Bulls (Saturday, 4 October). The first home game of the season will be against the Sharks at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday, 11 October (5.30pm), followed by the visit of Munster Rugby to Jones's Road a week later. Leinster play a third game in-a-row at home against Zebre on Saturday, 25 October at the Aviva Stadium (5.30pm). A view of the attendance (Image: ©INPHO/Tom Maher) After the first five rounds of the URC, there will be a break ahead of the Autumn Series for Ireland against New Zealand, Japan, Australia and South Africa, before the URC resumes for round 6 and a trip to Rodney Parade against Dragons RFC on Friday, 28 November. Tickets for the Munster match will go on public sale on Friday, August 29, and before the public sale there will be a window for current Leinster season ticket holders to upgrade their tickets. This is the same process as would have applied to previous Munster games being hosted at the Aviva Stadium, rather than the RDS. Once Leinster's season ticket holders have had a window to access tickets, the remaining tickets will then go on sale to the public. Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email .
Irish Examiner
31-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Leinster confirm Croke Park to host URC meeting with Munster
Munster and Leinster are set for another Croke Park showdown in 2025, with the provinces to face off at GAA HQ in an October United Rugby Championship fixture. The provinces also went to battle at Croke Park last season - a fixture that ended in a 26-12 win for Leo Cullen's Leinster - in front of a sold-out stadium of over 80,000 supporters. Ireland international trio James Lowe, Caelan Doris, Hugo Keenan - and Springbok RG Snyman, against his old employers - all dotted down inside an impressive first half showing. Leinster confirmed the Jones Road stadium as the venue for the URC Round 4, October 18 clash (kick-off 5.15pm), with the RDS still under redevelopment. The interprovincial meeting will be Leinster's first trip back to the stadium since the BKT URC Grand Final against the Vodacom Bulls in June, which Leinster won 32-7. Both the Aviva Stadium and Croke Park will serve as home venues for Leinster until they return to the RDS for the start of the 2026/27 season. For new Munster boss, Clayton McMillan, it's another big day in the late-2025 calendar, as his side will also welcome Gloucester to SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh in the Champions Cup on Saturday, December 13. Tickets for the match will go on public sale on Friday, August 29.
Irish Examiner
10-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Leinster coach Tyler Bleyendaal: 'Sam Prendergast is his own harshest critic'
Sam Prendergast's season won't end in Croke Park on Saturday. A two-game Ireland tour to Georgia and Portugal awaits in July, after all, but the upcoming BKT URC Grand Final with the Bulls will go a long way to determining how his breakthrough campaign is framed. Behind Ciaran Frawley and Ross Byrne for the No.10 jersey at provincial level last summer, the now 22-year-old was thought to be in a similar situation at Test level where Jack Crowley was very much the man in possession. That changed in November when Andy Farrell turned to the up-and-comer and faith has been kept in him ever since. He approaches the weekend's decider with the Bulls having played eight times for his country and 15 for his club. All bar three of those appearances have come as starts and he has played deep into most of his games to boot. Add in his three starts for Emerging Ireland in South Africa last autumn and the workload Prendergast has been handed is obvious. The out-half's abilities as a playmaker are clear and his kicking from the hand has been excellent with it. The flip side has been too much flimsy defending and a success rate off the tee that just won't cut it long-term. He left eleven points behind him against Glasgow in last week's semi-final but Tyler Bleyendaal, his attack coach at Leinster, can relate given he knows a thing about good and bad days as a No.10 from his own experiences with Crusaders and Munster. 'Jeez, being a kicker myself and sometimes you have a bad day. Sometimes you have a rubbish warm-up, a great game. Sometimes you have a great warm-up, a rubbish game. But he was back to work [Monday] kicking a lot of balls. As far as I'm aware, he wasn't kicking yesterday, but you never know. 'He might have been at home nudging a few. Like I said, he puts in the work, prepares well. He's his harshest critic, but he's got a great workrate. This week is another week. He's enjoying engaging with the planning of the week and putting in his own skill development as well.' More than one Leinster player and coach has insisted that they are blind to opinions in traditional or social media, but none have generated anything like as much debate or dissension as the youngster from Kildare this last eight months. Bleyendaal thought Prendergast played well last week against the Warriors, goalkicking blemishes aside. Leinster applied a lot of pressure and the Kiwi felt that much of that came from the leadership shown on the pitch by their ten. As for any toll from those 26 games and counting… 'I don't think there's any ill-effects. He's getting through the season fine. I don't look at him and think he's getting beaten up or he's slowing down. I feel like he turns up every week, he's got good energy and he's young. He recovers well.' Prendergast certainly has the scope to improve as a player. Alongside him through most of this period has been Jamison Gibson-Park who, at the age of 33, is still operating at the absolute pinnacle of the game at scrum-half. The No.9's performance in the last four was exceptional, not least two fizzing skip passes along the Glasgow line to play teammates in for fall-over tries in a 37-19 win. He must be a dream for any attack coach to work with. "He takes a lot of ownership around it, which is great. I don't think I can dictate to him to throw those passes or not. He's very instinctive, but he's got the skillset and more often than not, executes. So it's not a copy and paste, you can't take what he does and apply it to another nine necessarily. 'Very grateful when he's on the park. He is a different dynamic that teams have to defend. Sometimes I'm not sure what he is going to do, but more often than not he has got a good connection with the players. He just plays like he enjoys rugby, which is nice to see.' Leinster will go into the decider as favourites against a Bulls team that beat them in the semi-final of this competition in 2023, in Dublin, and last season, but Leo Cullen is still waiting on fitness updates on four of their recently-named British and Irish Lions. Josh van der Flier, Garry Ringrose, Hugo Keenan and Tadhg Furlong all missed the semi-final, the first of them with a hamstring problem and the other three with calf issues. Van der Flier and Ringrose are the two most likely to be ready in time.
The South African
09-06-2025
- Sport
- The South African
URC final: Kick off time reminder as Bulls jet into Dublin
After overcoming the Sharks this past weekend, the Bulls have reached yet another URC final, and will touch down in Dublin on Monday. Jake White's charges are preparing for one final challenge against the much-vaunted hosts, Leinster, who will undoubtedly be favourites at Croke Park this Saturday. Kick off is at 18:00 (SA time). Bulls determined to finally claim victory in the URC final This will be the Bulls' third appearance in the final in four seasons – and coach Jake White is desperate to see his side finally take the next step to glory. 'It's a massive achievement to reach another final, but we haven't won anything yet,' White said after the match. 'This is just another step. We need to learn from tonight's battle and prepare for an even tougher test ahead. 'Next week's final will be the biggest test yet,' he added. 'We'll face a team with many internationals and British & Irish Lions, away from home. Our players want to be part of these big games – that's how you get better.' Despite the immense pedigree of both teams, neither has lifted the trophy during the URC era. The Bulls have lost two Grand Finals, while Leinster — eight-time league champions — will be competing in their first-ever BKT URC Grand Final. Adding to the intrigue, two of Leinster's three URC semi-final defeats have come at the hands of the Bulls. The quality on the pitch will be unquestionable, with stars of the upcoming British & Irish Lions tour lining up against a host of Springboks, including double World Cup winner Willie le Roux. DO YOU THINK THE BULLS CAN GO ALL THE WAY? Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 0211. Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
