11.06.2025
Latest

Past results between Bulls and Leinster count for nothing: White

6 mins



  • he Bulls go into the final of the United Rugby Championship for a third time in four seasons.

3 minutes

Coach Jake White believes the Bulls will meet their match in Leinster, their United Rugby Championship (URC) final opponents, in terms of being rugby behemoths.

While the Pretoria side may hold sway over the other teams in South Africa, on Saturday they will face an international side in all but name, when they contest the URC Grand Finale in Dublin.

White says the Bulls are up against seemingly insurmountable odds but that finals have a habit of not going according to script.

The Bulls go into the final of the URC for a third time in four seasons. They have never won the URC title and that is sure to weigh heavy on them.

The Bulls have beaten Leinster in two previous semi-finals, home and away, and most recently they beat the Dublin side, in March in round 13.

White says all that counts for nothing and both sides have an equal shot at being crowned champions.

White says, “It doesn’t matter whether we beat them last year it does not matter whether we beat them in a knockout game it is all immaterial it is now a final and the wonderful thing about where we are is we have a lotto ticket and you can’t win the lotto without a ticket. At this point in time there are two teams with a lotto ticket and we have got a 50 percent chance of winning it and that’s how sport works.”

White is also happy to take his side to a city that is going to be in the throes of rugby fever. Alongside the URC final, is the hype surrounding the British and Irish Lions who play Argentina at the Aviva Stadium the following week.

“It will be different I am sure it will be different there is British and Irish Lions assembling while we are in the UK. The next week the British and Irish Lions play and I am glad because what it will mean is that whole Dublin will be rugby crazy and I am so happy because our young players and the guys who have been working hard with us are going to experience something that’s very unique and very special for them.”

The Bulls will face Leinster at Croke Park.

That stadium is ground zero for Irish Patriotism and will no doubt give Leinster a boost. White outlined all the reasons why the Bulls will be the underdogs in the contest.

“We are playing against the team that has been the form team. The team that has only lost twice this season and the team that is laden with British and Irish Lions and Irish internationals and by the way three really great international in RG Snyman, Rabah Slimani and Jordie Barrett. That’s probably the toughest task we have had to do in the last four years,” said White.

Preparing for a final in muted surrounds takes the pressure off and allows the Pretoria side to keep focused on their week in Dublin because as much as Leinster want the URC title, so do the Bulls, maybe even more so.

 

 

 

Related News