FOR THE SECOND YEAR running, the Bulls left Croke Park with the rotten feeling that on the biggest day, they had failed to give a proper account of themselves.

The South Africans were blown away by a brilliant Leinster display in Friday’s URC Grand Final, with the province surging into a 22-0 lead at half-time, going on to score five tries in a 36-7 win.

“We didn’t really give ourselves a chance,” said Bulls head coach Johan Ackermann.

“We were out of it quite early on the scoreboard. The players showed a lot of fight and so it wasn’t a lack of fight. We defended quite hard when Leinster attacked our line, but in those soft moments, we conceded that early try, after they knocked on we tried to play out, then lose the ball and they went and scored.

“Then we got the yellow cards [to Canan Moodie and Willie le Roux] in between that and we lost a few lineouts, scrappy lineouts. So we never really built a platform that gave us a chance.

And then you have to credit Leinster. For every mistake we made, they punished us.

“They were very clinical, won all those 50-50s, especially in the second half, and they were just a champion team today.

“So a lot of sore hearts in our changing room at the moment but if I reflect on the season, we wanted to be better today, but I’m very proud of the season and we showed a lot of fight.”

The defeat means the Bulls have now lost four URC finals (2022, 2024, 2025, 2026), but Ackermann – who replaced Jake White after last season’s Grand Final defeat to Leinster – doesn’t feel those experiences were weighing heavily on his players coming into tonight’s game.

“I can’t speak on behalf of the players, but we never felt like there was external pressure from previous losses. I think if anything we wanted to use that as motivation, to get one over the line after being in four finals.

“Maybe a bad start could have played a role, players could think ‘is this another one (defeat)?’ But that was not the talk at half-time, even if we were 22-0 down. There was still a belief that we could score two tries at the start of the second half and be back in it.

“But it’s always tough against such a good side if you start on the back foot. To fight back, if you look at Glasgow and Scarlets and a couple of other games during the season, we did come back from behind. So I think the players kept on believing, but we could never get the phases together and put quality rugby together before we made an error.

“So it’s a difficult one to say was there a stage where they’d think about the past, I don’t know, but it’s something we’ll definitely work on to say you can’t let the past drag you down.

“But you have to credit Leinster because every mistake we made, they punished us,” he added.

“They were very clinical and were just a champion team today. They are a champion team with world-class coaches and world-class players.”