Impressive Bulls Bring Leinster’s Season To A Deflating End

Leinster ended their season without a major trophy for the first time since 2017 as the Vodacom Bulls won 27-26 at the RDS to reach the first ever United Rugby Championship final.

The Bulls’ maiden victory on Irish soil, sealed by a late Morne Steyn penalty, made it a fortnight to forget for Leo Cullen’s men on the back of their European heartbreak.

A Bulls purple patch, midway through a rain-hit first half, delivered tries from Johan Grobbelaar and captain Marcell Coetzee and a 17-14 half-time lead.

Robbie Henshaw replied, adding to an early Dan Sheehan score, but a 52nd-minute penalty try, which landed Leinster captain James Ryan in the sin bin, had the Bulls 10 points clear.

Although Rory O’Loughlin added the hosts’ third try and replacement Cian Healy also crossed right at the death, the defiant Bulls deservedly marched on to face either the DHL Stormers or Ulster next week.

Jake White’s charges stood up well to Leinster’s initial attacks, but Sheehan turned a Ross Byrne kick through into an opportunist eighth-minute try.

Byrne’s well-weighted effort exposed the visitors in the back-field, with O’Loughlin getting his boot to the ball in the chase and the onrushing Sheehan diving on it to score. Byrne converted impressively from the left.

The Bulls, who got on the board courtesy of a Chris Smith penalty, ramped up their physicality to touch down in the 19th and 24th minutes.

Canan Moodie’s knock-on over the try-line was forgiven when hooker Grobbelaar barged over from a tap penalty. Smith converted with the aid of the post.

Elrigh Louw’s powerful carrying soon got them back into scoring range, Coetzee the beneficiary of Zak Burger’s short pass to go in under the posts and make it 17-7.

Leinster’s backs brilliantly got on the outside in the 32nd minute – the fleet-footed Jordan Larmour caused the damage via a deft Henshaw pass – before the Athlone man followed up to score on the stretch. Byrne’s conversion restored the three-point gap.

Number 8 Louw again led the charge for the Pretoria-based side on the restart. Grobbelaar controlled an advancing maul and Leinster coughed up a penalty try with Ryan binned for the collapse.

Not ever the springing of Jonathan Sexton from the bench could inspire an error-strewn Leinster. They were left to rue knock-ons at crucial stages and two lineouts which the Bulls pinched near their own whitewash.

A sharp attack gave the PRO14 title holders a lifeline with 11 minutes remaining as O’Loughlin was released out wide to reduce the arrears to 24-19.

It was a terrific team score. Sharp passing released Larmour and Garry Ringrose into space, and Jimmy O’Brien fed O’Loughlin to finish off in the left corner.

However, replacement Steyn’s 76th-minute penalty had the Bulls out of reach before Healy burrowed over past the 80-minute mark.

The Bulls came with a smart game-plan, shutting down Leinster’s attack as much as they could and rattling the province’s lineout, in particular.

A number of their players excelled in their 10th win in 11 URC games, none more so than Grobbelaar, the URC player-of-the-match, who took his try well, almost had a second and was at the heart of a strong night for their set-piece and breakdown work.

Speaking in the aftermath, Leinster head coach Cullen said: “It is pretty sick in there (in the dressing room). There’s so much work that goes into getting the team to knockout games and to fall short here, particularly at home in the RDS at this time of year, is disappointing.

“We start the game okay, we get ourselves into trouble a few times with when we lose the ball in the ruck. That’s probably the big thing in terms of how we go about playing the game, so that’s probably the biggest thing that’s sort of sticking in my mind at the moment.

“Because there were actually moments in the La Rochelle game as well where if you give away a turnover at the ruck, there’s a huge territory game for the opposition.

“The Bulls were clinical when they get down our end of the field. And then we are in that mode of chasing the game, which is a little bit different to the La Rochelle game, where we lose right at the death where we are in the lead for most of the game.