HAVING DISMANTLED THE Bulls in last season’s URC final, Leinster repeated the feat in their title defence at Croke Park. Indeed, they went four points better this time.
Leo Cullen’s men saved their best performance of the season for last as they dominated the Bulls to retain their URC crown in commanding fashion.
Leinster were steered by the cerebral mastery of Jamison Gibson-Park and the classy, demanding Sam Prendergast, with that halfback pairing playing behind a pack of forwards who took glee in physically overpowering the Bulls for long periods.
This was eerily similar to last season’s decider at the same Dublin venue as Leinster were on top nearly from start to finish, with Tommy O’Brien, Rieko Ioane, Jack Conan, Prendergast, and Harry Byrne scoring their five tries in front of a crowd of 39,184.
As with last year, there was a brief hint of a second-half revival by the Bulls when James Lowe was in the sin bin but it never fully caught light. The South Africans looked shell-shocked for most of the game.
Not even losing captain Caelan Doris just seven minutes into the game and right wing O’Brien before the break could put Leinster off their mission. They led 22-0 at the half time and saw it out with further second-half tries.
Those injuries will be of concern to Ireland head coach Andy Farrell ahead of their Nations Championship tour, but he will have been delighted to see so many of his other international players in such good form.
Sam Prendergast was player of the match. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
As ever, Gibson-Park was highly influential as he prompted and prodded, thinking one step ahead of everyone for most of the game. But he was overshadowed by his 23-year-old halfback partner.
Player of the match Prendergast passed crisply, kicked beautifully, and bagged a well-deserved try. But perhaps the most memorable moment was his speedy trackback and dive onto a bobbling ball when it looked like the Bulls would score in the first half.
As with last season’s URC final, Prendergast delivered his best of the campaign on the big occasion.
His life was made much easier by Leinster’s forwards so thoroughly dominating the collisions on both sides of the ball.
Josh van der Flier was relentlessly effective, Joe McCarthy continued his excellent season, Conan impacted strongly off the bench as Doris’ replacement, and hooker Rónan Kelleher was impressive in contact once again.
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With fullback Hugo Keenan incisive too, it was an all-court performance from Leinster.
This was a URC campaign that started poorly but it has ended with three strong play-off wins against South African opposition. And Leinster reserved their very best for the final note of the season.
It proved to be a fitting finale for the hugely popular Lowe, who received some huge cheers throughout, as well as replacement scrum-half Luke McGrath, loosehead prop Jerry Cahir, centre Ioane, and other departing players who didn’t play in this final.
Sam Prendergast and Tommy O'Brien celebrate. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
The first half was totally dominant from Leinster as they earned their 22-0 lead.
The onslaught began from Leinster’s very first attack, with yielded a Bulls yellow card for Canan Moodie’s deliberate knock-on when Prendergast tried to put McCarthy away down the left touchline.
Leinster’s first try followed soon after as a poor pass from hooker Johan Grobbelaar was spilt by Pollard near Leinster’s 10-metre line. O’Brien surged forward, nudged the ball once with his foot, and gobbled it up on the bounce to race clear.
Their second score was a thing of beauty, just after Moodie had returned. The ever-instinctive Gibson-Park took a clever quick lineout near halfway, with Prendergast giving an inside pass to Keenan, who broke two tackles and scorched through in midfield before finding Ioane with a long pass. Ioane’s finish was crisp as he stepped Kurt-Lee Arendse and showed his power to get over the line.
Prendergast made his big defensive play soon after, scrambling back at speed to bravely deny the Bulls a try, then had a key role in le Roux being sin-binned.
Keenan won back a hanging bomb from Prendergast and Leinster went on the assault, before they attacked wide to the right, where Keenan’s pass to O’Brien was deliberately knocked on by le Roux.
He went to the bin and Conan smashed over from close range.
Jack Conan scored Leinster's third try. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
Prendergast added his second successful conversion. The out-half extended the Leinster lead to 22-0 with half time beginning to loom, slotting a penalty to punish Cameron Hanekom’s failure to release the ball after a tackle in his 22.
The Bulls had chances to respond before the break but Jamie Osborne’s turnover tackle on Moodie in the 22 denied them initally, then Pollard kicked a penalty dead with the last act of a miserable half for the South Africans.
There was a downfall of rain to greet the start of the second half and with the Bulls struggling to hold onto the ball, Leinster continued to turn the screw.
Garry Ringrose – on for O’Brien – won back another towering Prendergast kick in the Bulls’ 22, with the relentless passage of carrying then concluding with the Leinster out-half flicking a classy pass to Osborne, before picking and diving over to score after the centre was tackled.
29-0 down, the Bulls turned to their bench and nearly found a way over with 25 minutes to go, only for van der Flier and McCarthy to hold Harold Vorster up over the tryline.
Lowe’s last game in Irish rugby was halted by a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on as the game headed for the final quarter, and the Bulls finally got a score on the board against the 14 men of Leinster as Moodie powered over from a close-range lineout.
Harold Vorster and James Lowe chase the ball. Nick Elliott / INPHO
Nick Elliott / INPHO / INPHO
The visitors thought they had a second with 13 minutes left, but lock Ruan Norté’s effort was chalked off after a TMO review showed that the crucial offload from Stedman Gans had gone forward.
And Leinster put the finishing touch to an excellent performance as Byrne – on for Prendergast – took a slick pass from Osborne and crossed under the posts, converting his own try.
There was absolutely no doubt about who the better team was at Croker.
Leinster scorers:
Tries: Tommy O’Brien, Rieko Ioane, Jack Conan, Sam Prendergast, Harry Byrne
Conversions: Sam Prendergast [3 from 4], Harry Byrne [1 from 1]
Penalties: Sam Prendergast [1 from 1]
Bulls scorers:
Tries: Canan Moodie
Conversions: Handré Pollard [1 from 1]
LEINSTER: Hugo Keenan; Tommy O’Brien (Garry Ringrose ’43), Rieko Ioane, Jamie Osborne, James Lowe (yellow card’); Sam Prendergast (Harry Byrne ’68), Jamison Gibson-Park (Luke McGrath ’73); Jerry Cahir (Alex Usanov ’49), Rónan Kelleher (Dan Sheehan ’47), Tadhg Furlong (Thomas Clarkson ’47); Joe McCarthy (Diarmuid Mangan ’70), James Ryan; Max Deegan, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris (captain) (Jack Conan ’7).
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Leinster retain URC crown in style with another battering of the Bulls
Leinster 36
Bulls 7
HAVING DISMANTLED THE Bulls in last season’s URC final, Leinster repeated the feat in their title defence at Croke Park. Indeed, they went four points better this time.
Leo Cullen’s men saved their best performance of the season for last as they dominated the Bulls to retain their URC crown in commanding fashion.
Leinster were steered by the cerebral mastery of Jamison Gibson-Park and the classy, demanding Sam Prendergast, with that halfback pairing playing behind a pack of forwards who took glee in physically overpowering the Bulls for long periods.
This was eerily similar to last season’s decider at the same Dublin venue as Leinster were on top nearly from start to finish, with Tommy O’Brien, Rieko Ioane, Jack Conan, Prendergast, and Harry Byrne scoring their five tries in front of a crowd of 39,184.
As with last year, there was a brief hint of a second-half revival by the Bulls when James Lowe was in the sin bin but it never fully caught light. The South Africans looked shell-shocked for most of the game.
Not even losing captain Caelan Doris just seven minutes into the game and right wing O’Brien before the break could put Leinster off their mission. They led 22-0 at the half time and saw it out with further second-half tries.
Those injuries will be of concern to Ireland head coach Andy Farrell ahead of their Nations Championship tour, but he will have been delighted to see so many of his other international players in such good form.
As ever, Gibson-Park was highly influential as he prompted and prodded, thinking one step ahead of everyone for most of the game. But he was overshadowed by his 23-year-old halfback partner.
Player of the match Prendergast passed crisply, kicked beautifully, and bagged a well-deserved try. But perhaps the most memorable moment was his speedy trackback and dive onto a bobbling ball when it looked like the Bulls would score in the first half.
As with last season’s URC final, Prendergast delivered his best of the campaign on the big occasion.
His life was made much easier by Leinster’s forwards so thoroughly dominating the collisions on both sides of the ball.
Josh van der Flier was relentlessly effective, Joe McCarthy continued his excellent season, Conan impacted strongly off the bench as Doris’ replacement, and hooker Rónan Kelleher was impressive in contact once again.
With fullback Hugo Keenan incisive too, it was an all-court performance from Leinster.
This was a URC campaign that started poorly but it has ended with three strong play-off wins against South African opposition. And Leinster reserved their very best for the final note of the season.
It proved to be a fitting finale for the hugely popular Lowe, who received some huge cheers throughout, as well as replacement scrum-half Luke McGrath, loosehead prop Jerry Cahir, centre Ioane, and other departing players who didn’t play in this final.
The first half was totally dominant from Leinster as they earned their 22-0 lead.
The onslaught began from Leinster’s very first attack, with yielded a Bulls yellow card for Canan Moodie’s deliberate knock-on when Prendergast tried to put McCarthy away down the left touchline.
Leinster’s first try followed soon after as a poor pass from hooker Johan Grobbelaar was spilt by Pollard near Leinster’s 10-metre line. O’Brien surged forward, nudged the ball once with his foot, and gobbled it up on the bounce to race clear.
Their second score was a thing of beauty, just after Moodie had returned. The ever-instinctive Gibson-Park took a clever quick lineout near halfway, with Prendergast giving an inside pass to Keenan, who broke two tackles and scorched through in midfield before finding Ioane with a long pass. Ioane’s finish was crisp as he stepped Kurt-Lee Arendse and showed his power to get over the line.
Prendergast made his big defensive play soon after, scrambling back at speed to bravely deny the Bulls a try, then had a key role in le Roux being sin-binned.
Keenan won back a hanging bomb from Prendergast and Leinster went on the assault, before they attacked wide to the right, where Keenan’s pass to O’Brien was deliberately knocked on by le Roux.
He went to the bin and Conan smashed over from close range.
Prendergast added his second successful conversion. The out-half extended the Leinster lead to 22-0 with half time beginning to loom, slotting a penalty to punish Cameron Hanekom’s failure to release the ball after a tackle in his 22.
The Bulls had chances to respond before the break but Jamie Osborne’s turnover tackle on Moodie in the 22 denied them initally, then Pollard kicked a penalty dead with the last act of a miserable half for the South Africans.
There was a downfall of rain to greet the start of the second half and with the Bulls struggling to hold onto the ball, Leinster continued to turn the screw.
Garry Ringrose – on for O’Brien – won back another towering Prendergast kick in the Bulls’ 22, with the relentless passage of carrying then concluding with the Leinster out-half flicking a classy pass to Osborne, before picking and diving over to score after the centre was tackled.
29-0 down, the Bulls turned to their bench and nearly found a way over with 25 minutes to go, only for van der Flier and McCarthy to hold Harold Vorster up over the tryline.
Lowe’s last game in Irish rugby was halted by a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on as the game headed for the final quarter, and the Bulls finally got a score on the board against the 14 men of Leinster as Moodie powered over from a close-range lineout.
The visitors thought they had a second with 13 minutes left, but lock Ruan Norté’s effort was chalked off after a TMO review showed that the crucial offload from Stedman Gans had gone forward.
And Leinster put the finishing touch to an excellent performance as Byrne – on for Prendergast – took a slick pass from Osborne and crossed under the posts, converting his own try.
There was absolutely no doubt about who the better team was at Croker.
Leinster scorers:
Tries: Tommy O’Brien, Rieko Ioane, Jack Conan, Sam Prendergast, Harry Byrne
Conversions: Sam Prendergast [3 from 4], Harry Byrne [1 from 1]
Penalties: Sam Prendergast [1 from 1]
Bulls scorers:
Tries: Canan Moodie
Conversions: Handré Pollard [1 from 1]
LEINSTER: Hugo Keenan; Tommy O’Brien (Garry Ringrose ’43), Rieko Ioane, Jamie Osborne, James Lowe (yellow card’); Sam Prendergast (Harry Byrne ’68), Jamison Gibson-Park (Luke McGrath ’73); Jerry Cahir (Alex Usanov ’49), Rónan Kelleher (Dan Sheehan ’47), Tadhg Furlong (Thomas Clarkson ’47); Joe McCarthy (Diarmuid Mangan ’70), James Ryan; Max Deegan, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris (captain) (Jack Conan ’7).
BULLS: Willie le Roux (yellow card ’26); Kurt-Lee Arendse, Canan Moodie (yellow card ’2), Harold Vorster, Stravino Jacobs (Stedman Gans ’56); Handre Pollard, Embrose Papier (Zak Burger ’68); Gerhard Steenekamp (Jan‑Hendrik Wessels ’54), Johan Grobbelaar (Nizaam Carr ’72), Francois Klopper (Wilco Louw ’54); Ruan Vermaak (Cobus Wiese ’54), Ruan Nortje; Marcell Coetzee (captain), Elrigh Louw (Marco van Staden ’54), Cameron Hanekom (Jeandre Rudolph ’54).
Referee: Andrea Piardi [Italy].
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Bulls Croke Park Deja Vu Final Leinster URC