Jake likes to play down Bulls

Leinster head coach Leo Cullen highlights the quality and confidence of Jake White’s Bulls team chasing silverware in Saturday’s Vodacom URC final at Croke Park.

White’s charges have beaten Leinster four times in six URC meetings, including two semi-finals – one famously at the RDS Arena in 2022 – and come into their third final in four URC campaigns after grinding out a 25-13 win over the Sharks last week.

The Bulls starting XV features a mix of Springbok stars and exciting game-breakers such as Canan Moodie and Sebastian de Klerk, under the stewardship of White, who guided the Springboks to World Cup glory in 2007.

Speaking ahead of the blockbuster decider in Dublin, Cullen acknowledged that the men from Pretoria will back themselves in the Irish capital, especially given their record against Leinster.

“Listening to them this week, they fancy themselves coming here,” he told reporters on Thursday. “They’ve got a ton of experience going through the team.

“Willie le Roux at 15, a double World Cup winner and an unbelievably experienced player… down to No 8 in Marcell Coetzee. He’s 34, 35 years of age and his experience playing in Ireland and playing with Springboks and all the rest.

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“We know what we’re up against, a huge challenge for us, a huge physical challenge. It won’t be easy.

“They’ve tons of international experience and I know Jake tries to play that down,” Cullen added. “But think of some of the players that have played for the Bulls over the years – they’re a team we’ve always greatly admired.

“We’re little old Ireland, you know, in terms of South Africa and what the country has achieved at the international game. We know it’s going to be a huge challenge so I wouldn’t be reading it too much in terms of the couple of finals that they’ve [the Bulls] lost.”

Leinster ended a run of URC playoff stumbles with a six-try demolition of defending champions Glasgow in last week’s semi-final. But they now face a Bulls side that has won six of their nine matches overseas this season.

“Possibly, I hope not,” Cullen said of the Bulls being more dangerous away from home. “They’ve travelled well during the year, so yes, I think they’ll be very confident coming into the game.”

Saturday’s showdown is a chance for Leinster to finally end their trophy drought at home for the first time since 2018.

Cullen has led the Irish giants through three Investec Champions Cup final defeats, and with a perfect record at Croke Park and a stacked squad that includes 12 British & Irish Lions and two URC Elite XV picks, is under pressure to deliver silverware.

“What’s deemed as success or failure off the back of this?” Cullen asked. “There are two good teams going at it. If you lose in a final are you classified as a failure? They are classified as losers, but are they failures?”

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