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Leinster smash Bulls to end URC drought

rugby14 June 2025 18:50| © SuperSport
By:Brenden Nel
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Irish juggernaut Leinster finally broke their four year drought in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship to win a one-sided final against the Vodacom Bulls 32-7 at Croke Park on Saturday.

In a scoreline that absolutely flatters the Bulls, Leinster dominated from start to finish to finally get their first trophy in four years and leave the Pretoria side with their third loss in a URC final in four years.

What was anticipated to be a great contest simply never got off the ground. It was one-way traffic and not the type that Bulls supporters are normally used to. On a day where history was made a few hundred kilometres east on a very famous cricket ground, the Bulls simply couldn’t find the game plan to give themselves a share of the day’s glory.

They were always going to be up against it. Leinster are by extension a test side that includes an international player in virtually every position. They dominated the URC regular season and are the type of team that can easily run away with a game.

NEVER IN THE FIGHT

But the disappointing part was that in this game, to stand a chance, the Bulls needed to stay in the fight. They needed a good start and they needed a platform. This they never got, and to be brutally honest, they were never really in the game.

This was Leinster’s afternoon, as they controlled the tempo, the scoreboard and even the referee in a contest that was very one-sided.

The Bulls, who have built their game plan around a setpiece platform, and a good aerial game, never had either on Saturday. They never found the scrum dominance they needed - right or otherwise - as Leinster won more penalties at the scrumtime than the team that had dominated the entire competition in this area. How that happened is anyone’s guess, but clearly the pictures they presented referee Andrea Piardi weren’t the right ones.

Without the scrum and lineout, they struggled, and when the Leinster juggernaut started marching, there was none of the defensive heroics that we saw last weekend in the semifinal win over the Sharks.

In fact they were listless, lacked energy and lost the physicality battle. The aerial battle was worse and they never won a single ball in the air.

TOP PLAYERS DIDN’T STEP UP

This was a game where their top players needed to step up and be counted and in the horror show that unfolded, they never had a chance. Willie le Roux, so key to their success this season, had a nightmare. His first two kick-pass attempts went straight to Leinster players. His tactical kicking mirrored the team performance and it was frustrating to watch.

The fact the Bulls couldn’t dig deep enough to mount a challenge will frustrate their fans. Their inability to use the emotion so publicly professed surrounding the death of former teammate Cornal Hendricks also was disappointing.

White had professed for the past month that the team had found their “why” but when it came to the crunch, they never had the answer for how to beat Leinster on their own turf.

It’s hard to say what now for this Bulls side - they clearly are the best South African side this season and deserved their place in the final. They were good all along and chalked up wins in Treviso, Galway, Limerick and Glasgow away from home to notch several firsts this season.

But when the big game came where they needed to front up, they were a shadow of the side we had seen all season.

A lot of this credit has to go to Leinster. They are a well-oiled machine, they have the resources and players like Jordie Barrett and RG Snyman make a huge difference. They are loaded with experience and with 12 British and Irish Lions they are a superb side.

They controlled the tempo and pace, and worked the referee superbly. Where the Bulls were mum and never seemed to utter anything but a complaint through their captain Ruan Nortje, Leinster spoke to Piardi at every stoppage, dominating the conversation, and shaping the narrative early.

PLAYED ON THE EDGE

And when they got on top they never looked back. They played on the edge, flooded the breakdown and made it a mess. But by the time the Bulls got any reward the scoreline was so inflated that the game was over as a contest.

To be fair, this isn’t on Piardi. The Bulls have been in enough contests to know how to adapt to a referee in any situation. They were simply out-thought, out-played and their normally effective attack had no solution. They kept on trying to go through Leinster and never got reward, making them look like a one-trick pony.

And without their setpiece to launch from, they never stood a chance.

It is a bitter pill to swallow for the Bulls, as they will again feel they had missed a chance but there will be enough time for introspection in the next few weeks to ask the hard questions that need to be asked.

From the start of the game they never were in the fight. And on losing the first two scrums to penalties, which certainly looked as if they could have gone the other way, they had the platform to launch.

NEVER LOOKED BACK

And that, with the momentum and the crowd behind them, was all that Leinster needed. There were no heroics on the tryline from the Bulls, and it wasn’t long before Jack Conan found a gap in the defence to go over from close range.

The hammer blow came in the 13th minute, as a poor clearance kick was chipped over the ruck by Luke McGrath, and Jordie Barrett booted the ball ahead in the race, beating Le Roux to the pill. With the kick downfield and no Bulls players in sight, it was an easy run-in for Barrett and a hammer blow to the Bulls’ hopes.

At 14-0 down, Leinster did what they always do, they started to push the boundaries. The Bulls heads had dropped and the momentum was going one way. When Josh van der Flier corkscrewed his way over from a lineout drive at the 22nd minute, it was 19-0 and game over.

The chances of the Bulls mounting a massive comeback from that far down against the top side in the competition was hardly likely, and as much as the Pretoria side didn’t fire a shot, the truth is that Leinster never allowed them to.

Sam Prendergast stretched the lead with a penalty early in the second half, and even when the Bulls finally got themselves into a position to score, and forced their way over from a lineout maul from Akker van der Merwe, it was never going to be enough.

The desperation that Leinster so often feed on as teams try to play catch-up came to the fore, and the Bulls made mistakes and were their own worst enemy.

Leinster feasted and added another penalty, and when they got the chance, young replacement scrumhalf Fintan Gunne went over in the corner to put the result to bed.

Leinster’s drought has ended, while the Bulls still search for answers. A one-sided final was not what the Pretoria side wanted, but they have no room to argue after this performance.

Leinster deserved every point, they controlled every facet of the final and were worthy winners.

The Bulls still need to find a way to turn silver into gold.

SCORERS

LEINSTER - tries: Jack Conan, Jordie Barrett, Josh van der Flier, Fintan Gunne. Conversions: Sam Prendergast (2), Ross Byrne. Penalties: Prendergast.

VODACOM BULLS - try: Akker van der Merwe. Conversion: Johan Goosen.

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