LEINSTER’S 29-POINT winning margin against the Bulls was the biggest ever in a URC final.
The South Africans could have scored more points. But so could Leinster.
There was no mistaking that this was a dominant performance from Leo Cullen’s side for the second year in a row against the same opposition at Croke Park.
So, how exactly did Leinster apply such pressure to a Bulls team that included 12 players who have just been named in Rassie Erasmus’ latest Springboks squad?
They managed to suffocate the Bulls with a well-executed blend of vicious physicality, clever kicking, speedy attack, set-piece nous, and defensive relentlessness.
Kick pressure
Leinster kicked the ball in play 32 times against the Bulls, which is eight higher than their average per game across the URC season before the final.
And the increase in the number of kicks was matched by an effectiveness when Leinster went to the boot.
While scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park kicked as well as ever, out-half Sam Prendergast was at the heart of so much that was good about this part of Leinster’s game.
Prendergast kicked 13 times in play, with nice variety within that number. The Kildare man is good at getting hangtime on his contestable kicks, as for this one that allowed Hugo Keenan to go and win the ball back just before Willie le Roux’s yellow card.
Prendergast gets 4.5 seconds of hang time on the kick, which comes directly from Leinster receiving a goal-line drop-out from the Bulls, underlining how planned this was.
The kick below towers over the Bulls for just over four seconds – a good marker for a garryowen that will cause stress for the defending team.
In this instance, Garry Ringrose goes up to reclaim the ball, leading to Prendergast’s own try.
Prendergast also showed his smarts with a 50:22 in the first half, directly after Jack Conan’s try.
With the Bulls still down to 14 men, Leinster decide to run their exit rather than kicking out of their 22.
Initially, Gibson-Park shapes to box kick.
But with the Bulls having two men positioned in the backfield, that leaves only 12 in the frontline defence.
Prendergast calls the run play and Gibson-Park whips the ball to Jamie Osborne, who passes out the back of centre partner Rieko Ioane to Prendergast.
Prendergast can see Bulls wing Stravino Jacobs closing up from the backfield to deal with the run threat.
Having set up to address the box kick over on the other side of the backfield, Bulls out-half Handré Pollard is never going to swing across in time,
Prendergast spies the wide open backfield and cleverly rolls a grubber kick down the left and into touch for the 50:22. Kick accuracy usually drops drastically when the kicker is running at speed, but Prendergast is on the money here.
The resulting field position, and the pressure that it applies to the 14-man Bulls, yields three points for Leinster and they move 22-0 ahead.
Set-piece frustration
The basic stats show that the Bulls only lost three of their 19 throws into the lineout at Croke Park, but those figures don’t do justice to the pressure Leinster applied at this set-piece.
Max Deegan led the way as Leinster’s key defensive weapon, a role he has excelled in over the last few seasons.
Deegan makes a superb read of the Bulls’ lineout above. It was evident that he and Leinster had done their homework on the Bulls’ tendencies, given how close they were to many other steals.
The one above comes on Leinster’s 10-metre line, the perfect place from which to launch an attack. But time after time, Leinster managed to disrupt the Bulls’ platform and spoil their attacking plans.
This was one major reason why Leinster could limit the Bulls to just six entries into their 22 in the game.
The example below is actually in Leinster’s 22, but it underlines how disruptive Deegan and co. were even when the Bulls ‘won’ their own lineout.
The Bulls retain possession after Deegan’s near-steal here, but their plan for mauling from six metres out is ruined.
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Just eight minutes into the game, this is a key moment. Score here with only 14 players, and the Bulls are right back in the game.
Instead, their plans are disrupted and Tommy O’Brien wins a breakdown penalty a few phases later.
Not only did Deegan lay siege to the Bulls’ lineout, but he was also Leinster’s key jumper on their own throw.
Leinster won 100% of their lineouts, with Deegan claiming six of their 10 throws.
The simple, clean lineout win above leads to Conan’s try, with a similar Deegan-won lineout launching the attack for Harry Byrne’s late score.
Meanwhile, the Bulls would have hoped for momentum-clinching dominance at the scrum in this game, particularly after Andrew Porter joined fellow loosehead props Paddy McCarthy and Jack Boyle on the injury list.
However, Jerry Cahir did a fine job at the scrum for the first 48 minutes of the game, along with experienced hooker Rónan Kelleher and tighthead prop Tadhg Furlong.
Leinster won a free-kick from the Bulls for an early engage just before Prendergast kicked the three points for 22-0.
Directly before the scrum, Furlong says, “No pre-engage, no pre-engage, no pre-engage,” as a means of drawing referee Andrea Piardi’s attention to that element of the scrum.
When they do set, Piardi free-kicks the Bulls for a “hit and chase.”
Gibson-Park quickly taps the ball and as the Bulls scramble into defence, their discipline slips and Leinster take the three points.
There were two scrum penalties and a free-kick against Leinster in the second half as the Bulls finally got the ascendancy, but it was too little, too late.
In a game that involved 16 scrums, Leinster would have been pleased not to give the Bulls anything when the game was in the balance as a contest.
Restarts are another important set-piece in rugby and Leinster would have been content with their work in this area, which was poor in the Champions Cup final loss against Bordeaux.
Leinster only kicked three restarts on account of the Bulls scoring so little, but they were accurate from Prendergast.
This remarkable goal-line drop-out from Prendergast travels nearly 70 metres and was another example of his kicking class in the final.
We can see the Bulls having to turn back downfield to gather this thunderbastard of a drop-out from Prendergast.
It’s also worth noting that Leinster were successful with five of their six kicks at goal, with Prendergast landing four from five and Byrne contributing the conversion of his own try.
Prendergast has been striking the ball effectively since changing his tee in April, with an improved 85% return with his goal-kicking since opting to switch to a telescopic tee.
Lightning-quick strikes
While Leinster used their kicking game intelligently, they also struck at speed with ball in hand on many occasions.
They produced nine linebreaks in this five-try win and caused the Bulls problems from their very first attack of the game.
Leinster go into the shortside here after an excellent Caelan Doris carry. They catch the Bulls narrow, and Canan Moodie reaches up to knock on Prendergast’s pass to Joe McCarthy.
It denies Leinster a linebreak and Moodie heads to the sin bin in the second minute.
Just after Moodie returned, Leinster struck from a quickly taken lineout, with Gibson-Park sparking a slick score.
The scrum-half is always a step ahead of everyone, and he reacts rapidly to the Bulls batting a contestable kick into touch, scooping the ball up and firing it infield to Prendergast.
Watch above how alertly Gibson-Park hunts for the scraps from the aerial contest. He actually dips down closer to the ground in anticipation of a ball bobbling around.
And when it skids away towards touch from Jacobs’ hand, Gibson-Park’s alertness only grows.
While opposite number Embrose Papier is relaxed and seems to be suggesting the ball has come off Leinster, Gibson-Park is already scooping it up to throw in quickly.
Prendergast receives the ball from Gibson-Parkand slips an inside pass to Keenan, who has been alert to the possibility.
Keenan, whose form is on an upward trajectory, breaks a tackle attempt, skips past Moodie as he trips, and accelerates upfield before firing a pass wide to Ioane, who finishes snappily.
It was a delightful Leinster try as they struck at speed and never let the Bulls catch up.
The Bulls were shown another yellow card in the first half, also for a deliberate knock-on.
This one came after Keenan won back Prendergast’s garryowen, with Leinster immediately launching a high-tempo assault.
The handling from Osborne, Prendergast and Keenan is slick here before le Roux fires up his left hand and knocks on the last pass towards O’Brien.
O’Brien would have had a good shot at finishing, so it’s a clear yellow card as the Bulls once again struggle to hold on against Leinster’s rapid attack.
Vicious contact work
As well as the more glamorous stuff, Leinster brought serious venom to their work in the tight.
Josh van der Flier was relentlessly aggressive for Leinster, leading the charts in this area with 17 carries.
As the example above shows, van der Flier constantly accelerated into his carries, as well as fighting through the contact with determined leg drive.
But this instance also shows how Leinster worked in pairs and trios. Loosehead prop Cahir makes a big impact here, driving into tackler Elrigh Louw and destabilising him, which helps van der Flier to eke out more metres.
Many others contributed potent carries, with Conan hitting the 16 mark and the likes of James Ryan, Deegan, Joe McCarthy, and Osborne all reaching double figures.
On top of that, Leinster’s ruck work was vicious.
They did lose four turnovers to the Bulls at the breakdown, but there was highly effective clearout work on many other occasions.
Ryan and van der Flier were leaders for Leinster in this area too, while the likes of Furlong, Cahir, and Deegan were also busy and effective.
Furthermore, there were three Leinster breakdown poaches, with McCarthy winning two of them to go along with the aforementioned O’Brien effort.
The McCarthy steal above sparked a dangerous Leinster counter-attack.
Defensive aggression
You just know that it will have bothered Jacques Nienaber that the Bulls managed to get points on the board in the second half, after Leinster nilled them in the first.
The Bulls could have had at least one more score in this game, but apart from Moodie’s second-half effort, they were frustrated by Leinster.
Nienaber would have been pleased with some of the breakdown efforts mentioned above, as well as the fact that Leinster’s first try of the game came directly from a defensive set.
The Bulls did create more opportunities in the second half, making an overall tally of eight linebreaks, but they just couldn’t find the finishing touches they needed.
Some of that was down to Leinster scrambling as hard as they always do under Nienaber.
Ringrose typified the effort with his 80th-minutetackle on Moodie. The game is already over as a contest, but Leinster have pride in their defence. Ringrose and the hard-working Luke McGrath are on the scene.
But the moment that best summed up Leinster’s spirit was Prendergast’s track-back effort when the Bulls looked set to score down the left with a counter-attack from a breakdown turnover in the first half.
Prendergast comes from the far side of the pitch. He’s highlighted below as Bulls wing Jacobs kicks into an empty backfield.
It initially looks like the Bulls will score, with Jacobs and Moodie in pursuit.
But Prendergast has good straight-line speed, and he is determined.
He eats up the ground, then makes a brave play to beat Jacobs to the ball.
Prendergast put his body on the line in his team’s time of need.
- This article was updated at 9.29am on 22 June to correct a typo in the 43rd paragraph.
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How Leinster's complete performance took the Bulls apart
LEINSTER’S 29-POINT winning margin against the Bulls was the biggest ever in a URC final.
The South Africans could have scored more points. But so could Leinster.
There was no mistaking that this was a dominant performance from Leo Cullen’s side for the second year in a row against the same opposition at Croke Park.
So, how exactly did Leinster apply such pressure to a Bulls team that included 12 players who have just been named in Rassie Erasmus’ latest Springboks squad?
They managed to suffocate the Bulls with a well-executed blend of vicious physicality, clever kicking, speedy attack, set-piece nous, and defensive relentlessness.
Kick pressure
Leinster kicked the ball in play 32 times against the Bulls, which is eight higher than their average per game across the URC season before the final.
And the increase in the number of kicks was matched by an effectiveness when Leinster went to the boot.
While scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park kicked as well as ever, out-half Sam Prendergast was at the heart of so much that was good about this part of Leinster’s game.
Prendergast kicked 13 times in play, with nice variety within that number. The Kildare man is good at getting hangtime on his contestable kicks, as for this one that allowed Hugo Keenan to go and win the ball back just before Willie le Roux’s yellow card.
Prendergast gets 4.5 seconds of hang time on the kick, which comes directly from Leinster receiving a goal-line drop-out from the Bulls, underlining how planned this was.
The kick below towers over the Bulls for just over four seconds – a good marker for a garryowen that will cause stress for the defending team.
In this instance, Garry Ringrose goes up to reclaim the ball, leading to Prendergast’s own try.
Prendergast also showed his smarts with a 50:22 in the first half, directly after Jack Conan’s try.
With the Bulls still down to 14 men, Leinster decide to run their exit rather than kicking out of their 22.
Initially, Gibson-Park shapes to box kick.
But with the Bulls having two men positioned in the backfield, that leaves only 12 in the frontline defence.
Prendergast calls the run play and Gibson-Park whips the ball to Jamie Osborne, who passes out the back of centre partner Rieko Ioane to Prendergast.
Prendergast can see Bulls wing Stravino Jacobs closing up from the backfield to deal with the run threat.
Having set up to address the box kick over on the other side of the backfield, Bulls out-half Handré Pollard is never going to swing across in time,
Prendergast spies the wide open backfield and cleverly rolls a grubber kick down the left and into touch for the 50:22. Kick accuracy usually drops drastically when the kicker is running at speed, but Prendergast is on the money here.
The resulting field position, and the pressure that it applies to the 14-man Bulls, yields three points for Leinster and they move 22-0 ahead.
Set-piece frustration
The basic stats show that the Bulls only lost three of their 19 throws into the lineout at Croke Park, but those figures don’t do justice to the pressure Leinster applied at this set-piece.
Max Deegan led the way as Leinster’s key defensive weapon, a role he has excelled in over the last few seasons.
Deegan makes a superb read of the Bulls’ lineout above. It was evident that he and Leinster had done their homework on the Bulls’ tendencies, given how close they were to many other steals.
The one above comes on Leinster’s 10-metre line, the perfect place from which to launch an attack. But time after time, Leinster managed to disrupt the Bulls’ platform and spoil their attacking plans.
This was one major reason why Leinster could limit the Bulls to just six entries into their 22 in the game.
The example below is actually in Leinster’s 22, but it underlines how disruptive Deegan and co. were even when the Bulls ‘won’ their own lineout.
The Bulls retain possession after Deegan’s near-steal here, but their plan for mauling from six metres out is ruined.
Just eight minutes into the game, this is a key moment. Score here with only 14 players, and the Bulls are right back in the game.
Instead, their plans are disrupted and Tommy O’Brien wins a breakdown penalty a few phases later.
Not only did Deegan lay siege to the Bulls’ lineout, but he was also Leinster’s key jumper on their own throw.
Leinster won 100% of their lineouts, with Deegan claiming six of their 10 throws.
The simple, clean lineout win above leads to Conan’s try, with a similar Deegan-won lineout launching the attack for Harry Byrne’s late score.
Meanwhile, the Bulls would have hoped for momentum-clinching dominance at the scrum in this game, particularly after Andrew Porter joined fellow loosehead props Paddy McCarthy and Jack Boyle on the injury list.
However, Jerry Cahir did a fine job at the scrum for the first 48 minutes of the game, along with experienced hooker Rónan Kelleher and tighthead prop Tadhg Furlong.
Leinster won a free-kick from the Bulls for an early engage just before Prendergast kicked the three points for 22-0.
Directly before the scrum, Furlong says, “No pre-engage, no pre-engage, no pre-engage,” as a means of drawing referee Andrea Piardi’s attention to that element of the scrum.
When they do set, Piardi free-kicks the Bulls for a “hit and chase.”
Gibson-Park quickly taps the ball and as the Bulls scramble into defence, their discipline slips and Leinster take the three points.
There were two scrum penalties and a free-kick against Leinster in the second half as the Bulls finally got the ascendancy, but it was too little, too late.
In a game that involved 16 scrums, Leinster would have been pleased not to give the Bulls anything when the game was in the balance as a contest.
Restarts are another important set-piece in rugby and Leinster would have been content with their work in this area, which was poor in the Champions Cup final loss against Bordeaux.
Leinster only kicked three restarts on account of the Bulls scoring so little, but they were accurate from Prendergast.
This remarkable goal-line drop-out from Prendergast travels nearly 70 metres and was another example of his kicking class in the final.
We can see the Bulls having to turn back downfield to gather this thunderbastard of a drop-out from Prendergast.
It’s also worth noting that Leinster were successful with five of their six kicks at goal, with Prendergast landing four from five and Byrne contributing the conversion of his own try.
Prendergast has been striking the ball effectively since changing his tee in April, with an improved 85% return with his goal-kicking since opting to switch to a telescopic tee.
Lightning-quick strikes
While Leinster used their kicking game intelligently, they also struck at speed with ball in hand on many occasions.
They produced nine linebreaks in this five-try win and caused the Bulls problems from their very first attack of the game.
Leinster go into the shortside here after an excellent Caelan Doris carry. They catch the Bulls narrow, and Canan Moodie reaches up to knock on Prendergast’s pass to Joe McCarthy.
It denies Leinster a linebreak and Moodie heads to the sin bin in the second minute.
Just after Moodie returned, Leinster struck from a quickly taken lineout, with Gibson-Park sparking a slick score.
The scrum-half is always a step ahead of everyone, and he reacts rapidly to the Bulls batting a contestable kick into touch, scooping the ball up and firing it infield to Prendergast.
Watch above how alertly Gibson-Park hunts for the scraps from the aerial contest. He actually dips down closer to the ground in anticipation of a ball bobbling around.
And when it skids away towards touch from Jacobs’ hand, Gibson-Park’s alertness only grows.
While opposite number Embrose Papier is relaxed and seems to be suggesting the ball has come off Leinster, Gibson-Park is already scooping it up to throw in quickly.
Prendergast receives the ball from Gibson-Park and slips an inside pass to Keenan, who has been alert to the possibility.
Keenan, whose form is on an upward trajectory, breaks a tackle attempt, skips past Moodie as he trips, and accelerates upfield before firing a pass wide to Ioane, who finishes snappily.
It was a delightful Leinster try as they struck at speed and never let the Bulls catch up.
The Bulls were shown another yellow card in the first half, also for a deliberate knock-on.
This one came after Keenan won back Prendergast’s garryowen, with Leinster immediately launching a high-tempo assault.
The handling from Osborne, Prendergast and Keenan is slick here before le Roux fires up his left hand and knocks on the last pass towards O’Brien.
O’Brien would have had a good shot at finishing, so it’s a clear yellow card as the Bulls once again struggle to hold on against Leinster’s rapid attack.
Vicious contact work
As well as the more glamorous stuff, Leinster brought serious venom to their work in the tight.
Josh van der Flier was relentlessly aggressive for Leinster, leading the charts in this area with 17 carries.
As the example above shows, van der Flier constantly accelerated into his carries, as well as fighting through the contact with determined leg drive.
But this instance also shows how Leinster worked in pairs and trios. Loosehead prop Cahir makes a big impact here, driving into tackler Elrigh Louw and destabilising him, which helps van der Flier to eke out more metres.
Many others contributed potent carries, with Conan hitting the 16 mark and the likes of James Ryan, Deegan, Joe McCarthy, and Osborne all reaching double figures.
On top of that, Leinster’s ruck work was vicious.
They did lose four turnovers to the Bulls at the breakdown, but there was highly effective clearout work on many other occasions.
Ryan and van der Flier were leaders for Leinster in this area too, while the likes of Furlong, Cahir, and Deegan were also busy and effective.
Furthermore, there were three Leinster breakdown poaches, with McCarthy winning two of them to go along with the aforementioned O’Brien effort.
The McCarthy steal above sparked a dangerous Leinster counter-attack.
Defensive aggression
You just know that it will have bothered Jacques Nienaber that the Bulls managed to get points on the board in the second half, after Leinster nilled them in the first.
The Bulls could have had at least one more score in this game, but apart from Moodie’s second-half effort, they were frustrated by Leinster.
Nienaber would have been pleased with some of the breakdown efforts mentioned above, as well as the fact that Leinster’s first try of the game came directly from a defensive set.
The Bulls did create more opportunities in the second half, making an overall tally of eight linebreaks, but they just couldn’t find the finishing touches they needed.
Some of that was down to Leinster scrambling as hard as they always do under Nienaber.
Ringrose typified the effort with his 80th-minute tackle on Moodie. The game is already over as a contest, but Leinster have pride in their defence. Ringrose and the hard-working Luke McGrath are on the scene.
But the moment that best summed up Leinster’s spirit was Prendergast’s track-back effort when the Bulls looked set to score down the left with a counter-attack from a breakdown turnover in the first half.
Prendergast comes from the far side of the pitch. He’s highlighted below as Bulls wing Jacobs kicks into an empty backfield.
It initially looks like the Bulls will score, with Jacobs and Moodie in pursuit.
But Prendergast has good straight-line speed, and he is determined.
He eats up the ground, then makes a brave play to beat Jacobs to the ball.
Prendergast put his body on the line in his team’s time of need.
- This article was updated at 9.29am on 22 June to correct a typo in the 43rd paragraph.
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Analysis Bulls Dominant Leinster Leo Cullen