Leinster save best until last after difficult campaign to go back-to-back in URC
Leinster captain Caelan Doris, left and James Lowe of Leinster lift the cup alongside teammates. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
Leinster? Just put them down for the same as last year.
More disappointment in the Champions Cup? Check. More noise about the coaching staff, the style of play and the very direction of the club. Yep.
A great big biffing of the Bulls in the URC Grand Final at Croke Park? Oh god, yes.
All’s well that ends well, then? You couldn’t say that.
Leo Cullen will still find it hard not to think back to Bilbao as he thumbs through his spy novel by the pool, but this was a performance that showed just how good Leinster can still be when they get it right.
The province is now the first team to win this URC version of the league back-to-back. They are, in fact, the first side to simply win it twice, and they did it by beating three South African teams in the last three rounds.
"Yeah I think (the result) is pretty special. We have a number of unbelievable characters leaving and it's good to give them a few nice days celebrating," said Sam Prendergast, speaking post-match to Premier Sports. "The feeling felt very similar to last year's final.
"I suppose since Europe, my focus has been about winning this trophy, no one has won it back to back but now we have."
For the Bulls, who fielded eleven Springboks here, it’s a fourth final loss in five years.
It wasn’t all sweetness and light on a wet evening in front of an engaged but disappointing crowd of 39,184 with Caelan Doris retiring injured with a foot injury after just two minutes and Tommy O’Brien hobbling off before the break.
Both are due to travel to Australia with Ireland on Monday.
Leinster led 19-0 at half-time 12 months ago and eased out to a 32-7 win, but this was supposed to be a better Bulls side with more fit players, under new management and with eight league wins on the bounce coming to Dublin.
This time they trailed 22-0 at the break.
Leinster were miles ahead in every good stat you could care to mention. A scrum devoid of its three best looseheads, and with Jerry Cahir holding the fort, more than stood up to the test. They dominated possession, territory and they took enough of their chances.
The Bulls didn’t help themselves with Canan Moodie and Handré Pollard earning yellow cards for deliberate knock-ons after just two and 25 minutes. They got hit for 17 points while down to 14 men and there was more self-inflicted damage besides.
Pollard will have nightmares over a half that ended with him kicking a penalty dead to the in-goal area just when his team badly needed some bounce, and he had coughed up the first try when a simple catch evaded him and Tommy O’Brien ran clear to open the scoring.
Prendergast had a much better evening on the front foot. Named man of the match, he even performed an amazing defensive play when diving bravely at the feet of Stravino Jacobs after a breakaway to prevent what would have been a certain try.
The Bulls were being split open time and again in the seam separating their midfield and right wing and Hugo Keenan took that very route to burst through and pass to Rieko Ioane who did brilliantly to evade two tackles and claim the second.
Other chances went abegging but a third try came after le Roux’s faux pas and sin-bin, Jack Conan just about digging over from close range after the penalty, lineout and a couple of softening-up phases. There was less than half an hour gone.
A Prendergast penalty five minutes later wrapped up the scoring for the first period. The Bulls had won a semi-final in Glasgow when trailing 21-3. Could they manage something similar, and even more sensational, here?
Not even close.
Prendergast continued his return to form after a difficult season by pouncing for the fourth try just seconds after his own sublime pop pass to Jamie Osborne. The rest of the second-half was like a mirror image of their Champions Cup final experience.
This time it was Leinster, not Bordeaux-Begles, drifting to the title in second gear. Harold Vorster was held up over the line before James Lowe – playing for Leinster for the last time before a switch to Japan – got sin-binned for another knock-on judged to be deliberate.
The Bulls were finally getting a head of steam up and Moodie eventually got them off the board with a converted try just past the hour before second row Ruan Nortje bagged a second that was scrubbed for a forward pass.
Lowe’s release from the sin-bin brought the loudest roar in the entire 80 minutes and Harry Byrne, on for Prendergast, rounded up the scoring and the URC season with Leinster’s fifth try and a conversion three minutes from time.
Impressive, comprehensive stuff.
H Keenan; T O’Brien, R Ioane, J Osborne, J Lowe; S Prendergast, J Gibson-Park; J Cahir, R Kelleher, T Furlong; J McCarthy, J Ryan; M Deegan, J van der Flier, C Doris.
J Conan for Doris (6); G Ringrose for O’Brien (40); T Clarkson for Furlong and D Sheehan for Kelleher (both 47); A Usanov for Cahir (49); H Byrne for Prendergast (68); D Mangan for McCarthy (70); L McGrath for Gibson-Park (74).
W le Roux; KL Arendse, C Moodie, H Vorster, S Jacobs; H Pollard, E Papier; G Steenekamp, J Grobbelaar, F Klopper; R Vermaak, R Nortje; M Coetzee, E Louw, C Hanekom.
Marco van Staden for Louw, Jan‑Hendrik Wessels for Steenekamp, W Louw for Klopper, C Wiese for Vermaak and J Rudolph for Hanekom (all 49); S Gans for Jacobs (56); Z Burger for Papier (69); N Carr for Grobbelaar (73).
A Piardi (Ita).
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
