Jake White: 'Leinster are the benchmark for where every club team wants to get to'

Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White says his team have much more improving to do. Picture: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho

Bulls head coach Jake White has named a team sprinkled with World Cup winners and bristling with Springbok muscle to face Leinster in Saturday’s URC Grand Final but he refused to accept opposite number Leo Cullen’s assessment that his side was a rugby juggernaut.

The man who led South Africa to the 2007 World Cup was more intent on bolstering Leinster’s credentials as he addressed the media at Croke Park on Thursday than receiving praise for building a Bulls squad with an enticing mixture of proven champions and a younger generation of emerging Springboks.

It was the reason Cullen, who preceded White in the day’s pre-match press conferences at GAA Headquarters, suggested it was going to be a massive challenge for his Leinster side to overcome the side from Pretoria and land their first trophy in four years.

The Bulls boss was having none of that, though, when his rival’s words were relayed to him, preferring to interpret them as an endorsement of his side’s improvements made on his watch.

“I think they've got 23 internationals, and that's only because they’re only allowed to play 23. So, they've got a many more internationals than we've got. I’ll repeat myself, they are the benchmark of where every club team wants to get to.

“When you think about it, if you have a board meeting and you ask for a tighthead prop and you get Rabah Slimani and you ask for a lock and you get RG Snyman, and you ask for an inside back and you get Jordie Barrett, there’s not many clubs in the world that would be able to go into a board meeting and not just firstly get that, secondly not only get the positions but thirdly get that calibre of player.

“So Leo’s right, we've got better, and our team is growing, and we are much better than we were four years ago when this group started. As I said to Ruan (Njorte, his Springbok-capped captain) when we walked in, he was 21 when he started playing and now he’s 26. And a lot of his team-mates from juniors were in that team, and then came the younger guys like Canan (Moodie) and Cameron (Hanekom).

“So we’re still not where we want to be, and that's selfishly from me as a director, but we are far better, and I take it as a massive compliment from a guy like Leo, who I rate highly and I know really well - in fact, I'm giving my age away, I was coaching South Africa U21s when Leo was captaining Ireland U21s.

Leo Cullen was full of praise for Jake White and the Bulls in his press conference. Picture: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho

“So I have a massive amount of respect for him and I'm sure what he means is that the Bulls have improved and that’s a great compliment. And there are some internationals, a lot more than we had four years ago but I would say to Leo we’re still not where we need to be and I would like to believe we can still get better.” 

Leinster’s team announcement earlier in the day backed up White’s assessment of the province’s strengths as Cullen was able to recall two more internationals to his starting line-up with British & Irish Lions to be Garry Ringrose and Josh van der Flier recovered from calf and hamstring injuries.

The Ireland duo’s comebacks from respective calf and hamstring issues bring Leinster’s 2025 Lions representation to 10 of their 12-strong contingent set to tour Australia this summer as Leo Cullen’s men bid to end a four-year silverware drought. Yet Hugo Keenan and Tadhg Furlong remain absent from the Leinster matchday squad, each with a calf injury.

The return of Ringrose to outside centre means Jamie Osborne moves to the replacements as Ciaran Frawley misses out having made a try-scoring appearance off the bench in the 37-19 semi-final victory over outgoing champions Glasgow Warriors at Aviva Stadium last Saturday. And van der Flier’s selection means no place in the 23 for last weekend’s starting openside flanker Scott Penny.

Jack Conan once again captains Leinster in the continuing absence of club skipper Caelan Doris while Furlong’s unavailability means another start at tighthead prop for Thomas Clarkson while Jimmy O’Brien retains the full-back berth with Keenan sidelined.

It is an unchanged set of five forward replacements with Rónan Kelleher, Jack Boyle and Rabah Slimani covering the front row and RG Snyman and Max Deegan covering the second and back rows with Osborne joins the backline reinforcements alongside Luke McGrath and the departing Ross Byrne, who is set to make his 186th and final appearance for Leinster before joining Gloucester this summer.

Bulls boss White has been forced to make one change to his starting line-up with the loss of No.8 Hanekom to injury in last Saturday’s semi-final victory over South African rivals the Sharks, with Marcell Coetzee switching from flanker and Marco van Staden moving in at blindside flanker to complete an all-Test back row alongside openside Njorte.

LEINSTER: J O’Brien; T O’Brien, G Ringrose, J Barrett, J Lowe; S Prendergast, J Gibson-Park; A Porter, D Sheehan, T Clarkson; J McCarthy, J Ryan; R Baird, J van der Flier, J Conan - captain. 

Replacements: R Kelleher, J Boyle, R Slimani, RG Snyman, M Deegan, L McGrath, R Byrne, J Osborne.

BULLS: W le Roux; C Moodie, D Kriel, H Vorster, S de Klerk; J Goosen, E Papier; J-H Wessels, J Grobbelaar, W Louw; C Wiese, JF van Heerden; M van Staden, R Nortje - captain, M Coetzee. 

Replacements: A van der Merwe, A Tshakweni, M Smith, J Kirsten, N Carr, Z Burger, K Johannes, D Williams. 

Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy).