Leinster to erase 'bad play-off memories' against Bulls

REACTION: Leinster finally broke their United Rugby Championship semifinal.

The Irish province will now face the Bulls in the Final at Croke Park this coming Saturday, after a comprehensive 37-19 drubbing of Glasgow Warriors this past weekend.

Leinster last won silverware in 2021, the URC’s predecessor, the Pro14.

To further fray the Irish nerves is the fact that

The South African franchise has beaten Leinster four times in their last five meetings, winning both their semifinal encounters.

The first upset was at the RDS in 2022, also knocking the province out again in the semifinals last year.

When the sides met in Pretoria in March in a league match, the Bulls edged Leinster 21-20 with the final kick of the game.

That came also saw the Bulls scrum, anchored by Springbok Wilco Louw, dominating the scrums.

It laid the foundation for the upset.

Leinster Captain Jack Conan said they will relish the physical battle against the Bulls’ brutes.

However, they will focus on themselves, rather than just ‘look for counters’.

* (Article continues below ….)

FT: LEIN 37-19 GLA
Joe McCarthy: ‘Everyone loves to hate Leinster and that drives us on’.
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“It’s about us and what we want to do,” he said about facing the Bulls in the Final.

“It will all count for nothing if we don’t go on and win again and show that level of dominance that we did [against Glasgow in the semifinal].

“We’re not getting ahead of ourselves, we know it is going to be a tough task next week.

“When we show up and are properly on it we are very hard to deal with.

“The game couldn’t have started much better for us [this past Saturday], Sammy’s kick-off, Tommy’s turnover into the corner. Lads paying on the gainline, it paid dividends.”

Both Leinster second row Joe McCarthy and coach Leo Cullen referenced some of the outside noise and criticism in the immediate aftermath of the game, and Cullen admitted his team felt like they had a point to prove in the semi-final.

And after finally getting over the line in a URC semifinal at the fourth time of asking, he’s hoping they can make home advantage count, as they head to Croke Park.

“We don’t have to travel too far for the final, thankfully,” Cullen said.

“We need to make that count in how we go about preparing because that’s a bit that we can control.

“There are other bits that we can’t control, unfortunately.

“Can they play their best every week? Listen, they’re not robots.

“There is an opposition that is fully motivated as well. It’s about dusting ourselves off now, very physical game and I’m sure the other one [Bulls v Sharks] will be too.”

Source: @RTEsport

FT: LEIN 37-19 GLA
‘Tommy likes being called young now’, Leo Cullen on selection challenges and decision making in his side’s win to progress to the URC final.
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Live updates 👇https://t.co/ECGu3XbtdV pic.twitter.com/TpFGcG5VKo

— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) June 7, 2025