2 days ago
'We got here, we're playing for our brothers, and we're playing for our friend that we have lost'
THE BULLS' URC semi-final victory over Leinster at Loftus Versfeld last season is a game best remembered for Willie le Roux's expert exploitation of Leinster's backfield, his umpteen crossfield kicks exposing one of the only chinks in the visitors' blitz defence.
Springbok World Cup winner Le Roux, who turns 36 in August, is well attuned to Jacques Nienaber's ways, of course. But for all that he may rightly be described as a veteran, Saturday's potentially seismic encounter at Croke Park will be his first URC final, whereas it will make for a third bite of the cherry for many of his Bulls teammates.
Consequently, when he's asked by a South African journalist about the Bulls' mental capacity to finally get over the line in their toughest-looking championship decider to date, Le Roux can afford a shrug of the shoulders — his are unburdened by recent history.
'I think it's about the moment now', says the fullback, 'and going out there with a smile on your face, enjoying it, and playing for one and other, even though all the odds are against you and everyone has written us off.
'We have been enjoying ourselves this season, playing for one and other. It has got us to the final. It's about doing the same thing that we have been doing the whole year.
'I don't think there is any need to put added pressure onto us.
We got here, we are playing for our brothers, and we are playing for our friend that we have lost.
Former Bull Cornal Hendricks, who died of a suspected heart attack last month, aged 37, was a dear friend of Le Roux's in particular. The duo began their professional careers together with the Boland Cavaliers, subsequently playing alongside each other Cheetahs, as Springboks, and, last season, as Bulls.
Just over three weeks have passed since the charismatic former winger passed away, leaving little time for Le Roux or his teammates to fully process the loss amid their URC knockout run.
There will be further scope to do just that when the curtain falls on the season at Croke Park on Saturday, a day on which the Pretorians hope to honour their former player in the most joyous way possible.
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But the memory of Hendricks, who earned 12 caps for South Africa between 2014 and 2015, has played a significant role in pushing the Bulls even this far.
'That wasn't something that you woke up one morning and expected to happen,' Le Roux says of his friend's untimely passing.
'I think that what the Bulls have done when we retired his jersey this season — and [Canan] Moodie has been playing with the number 24 jersey — and the photos and stuff at the back of our numbers, it is just a reminder; reminding us that every time, before we put on the jersey, what an influence he had at the club, his positive attitude…
'He would light up a room when he walked in,' Le Roux adds.
The Bulls, then, will be emotionally charged when they take to the field at GAA Headquarters, hellbent on doing right by a club icon and amending the wrongs of 2022 and 2024.
And while it will be Le Roux's first URC final, his experience of even greater showpieces with the Springboks will prove an invaluable tool as Jake White and co. navigate the week in Dublin.
For a youngster like the aforementioned Canan Moodie, for example, who didn't feature in the Boks' matchday 23 for the last World Cup final, Saturday's meeting with Leinster will be the most significant of his career to date.
But Le Roux's advice for the Bulls' less experienced charges will be simple: 'It's the same as playing the first game of the season'.
'It's not to put this [final] on a pedestal and make this that much bigger', Le Roux adds, 'and you go into your shell where you don't want to try stuff and you don't want to run from your own half. That is not what got us here in the first place.
'You shouldn't wait. If you're a winger, you don't wait outside on the wing to get the ball: you come in and you work off your wing and you get your hands on the ball as much as you can.
We got here through taking chances. We see an opportunity, we take it. That is what you must do in those big games as well: whether you make a mistake or not, it's about putting yourself out there, putting yourself in battle. You might lose a few battles but you might also win.
'That's just the little things that I tell the guys. You might lose a few battles but it's about getting back up and putting yourself into as many as you can.'
When those battle lines are finally drawn at 5pm on Saturday, hosts Leinster will be heavily favoured to end their own trophy drought and lift their first title of the URC era.
Le Roux is distinctly unperturbed by the Bulls' underdog status but he is equally uninspired by the Bulls' healthy record over Leinster, against whom the South Africans have played six and won four — including two semi-finals and a semi-recent, regular-season squeaker.
Recent records can be torn up, says the fullback. Each side, equally desperate for silverware, will have 80 minutes to set straight the only record that actually matters.
'It's a final, it's one game away now,' Le Roux says.
'You could have had the worst season of your life or [been] the the best attacking team of this season, but that doesn't matter. This is the game. This is the only one you need to win to lift the trophy.
'Finals are fine margins whether it's at home or away. These games come down to maybe one moment, one mistake you might make, one piece of brilliance someone else does.
'They all say it's 'mission impossible', but we'll have to wait and see on Saturday.
'It's all about playing for each other, playing for your brother next to you, and and playing for Cornall.'
