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RTÉ News
13 hours ago
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Passionate Jake White commendation reveals Bulls' URC buy-in
South African rugby is buying in, and Jake White's Bulls are all in. After eschewing Super Rugby to switch hemispheres in 2021, the big four franchises are bringing the crowd with them. The BKT United Rugby Championship is their direct replacement for Super Rugby, a tournament which the Pretorians won three times. South African sides have made up five of the compeition's eight finalists in the last four seasons. This means something. The URC is where "you're seeing the best players in the world" reckoned the always engaging 61-year-old when he addressed reporters at Croke Park yesterday ahead of Saturday's Grand Final against Leinster. The Champions Cup? Well, that's nice too. White's heartfelt and enthusiastic commendation contrasts with Leinster's laboured praise for their second-best friend. Earlier this week, Dan Sheehan insisted there was "absolutely no way" Leinster would be beaten in the hunger stakes and players aren't really expected to say anything different. "If you reach a final, everyone is desperate to win; let's be fair," said White, whose side finished the regular season in second place behind Leinster. "No one sits in a final and says we are not desperate or as desperate as the other team... it would be naïve." White is a World Cup-winning coach, with the Springboks in 2007, and has plied his trade in Australia, with the Brumbies, who he took to the Super Rugby final in 2013. He spent three years in both France, with Montpellier, and Japan. White has been around the world and his thoughts on the URC are worth reading, especially when asked to compare it to the Bulls' former home. "Well, let me say this, one of the things which is interesting, and I've been around a long, long time, is that [the fans] didn't buy into Super Rugby when they joined it either," he said. "They didn't understand it. They didn't know who the guys from Waikato were and the guys from Otago and then as time went on they got a better feel for how Super Rugby worked. "And in the URC, I would still be honest and say they're still not sure how it all fits in because when we play Saracens they say 'is it a URC game?' and the same when we play Northampton. "But I think, over time, they now realise it's actually a phenomenal tournament and you're seeing the best players in the world. "I mean, it's no different from what happened when Super Rugby started to take off. "They realised you could see Christian Cullen playing for the Hurricanes and you can see Jonah Lomu playing for Auckland." Ahead of tomorrow's decider, White, whose side have lost two of the last three finals, said so great is "rugby fever" in the Rainbow Nation that they will receive support from erstwhile rivals. "I mean let's be fair, we're playing Ireland tomorrow," he said. "They just happen to have a different colour jersey on Saturday but we're playing Ireland and that's probably why South Africa have tuned in, because they know these players as Irish internationals. "I've got some messages from back home, people are supporting the Bulls. "People in Cape Town are supporting the Bulls. People in Durban are supporting the Bulls and think about it, that's like Munster supporting Leinster tomorrow against the Bulls. "That's just what happens when rugby fever is high. But they've bought into it and it's no different from how it happened in Super Rugby." White was also asked about lock Joe McCarthy's assertion last weekend that "everyone loves to hate Leinster". Is that the same in South Africa? "Nah, nah, everyone's in awe of Leinster," he said. "Just read that team, from Andrew Porter, and go through the list. I mean, it just gets better as you're reading it, the team is full of stars. "I think what, what [Joe McCarthy] says there, it's exactly what top players do say, is that they need to find a way to be better, and they need to find the 'why' of why they want to win. "And what he was right [to say] 'they don't like us', doesn't matter, as long as we understand what we need to do. "So, we're the same, we're not the most loved team in the world either. "Let's be fair, the Bulls wouldn't win too many popularity awards if you went around either but it doesn't matter. "The reality is we've got a job to do, as Leinster have got a job to do tomorrow, and it's got nothing to do with who likes who and who doesn't like who. "Whoever plays well tomorrow and whoever takes their chances is going to win the game."
The 42
2 days ago
- Sport
- The 42
'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. Advertisement 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.'
