Pre-Register For Tickets To Historic URC Final At Croke Park
The Leinster players take to the pitch for last October's BKT United Rugby Championship derby match against Munster ©INPHO/Tom Maher
Croke Park will host the 2025 BKT United Rugby Championship final next Saturday (kick-off 5pm), as Leinster and the Vodacom Bulls go head-to-head in a blockbuster clash of hemispheres.
As the number one ranked team from the league phase of the United Rugby Championship, Leinster have earned the right to host the final ahead of their South African opponents, who finished second in the table.
Fans eager to get the best seats with a 10% early bird discount can register for a 24-hour pre-sale window that goes live tomorrow (Sunday) at 10am, by signing up here.
Once the pre-sale window ends at 9am on Monday, the general sale will begin at 10am, with ticket prices starting from €20.
It will be a truly historic occasion as Croke Park, home of the GAA, hosts its first ever rugby final. Club rugby made its debut at the Jones’s Road in April 2009 when Leinster famously defeated Munster in a Heineken Cup semi-final.
That match drew a then-world record attendance for a club rugby fixture of 82.208. Leinster have played three more times at Croke Park in the last 13 months, including last year’s Investec Champions Cup semi-final against Northampton Saints.
Leo Cullen’s men ran out 20-17 winners over Northampton on that occasion, in front of a record Champions Cup crowd of 82,300.
Leinster have maintained their winning form at Croke Park this season, setting another attendance record – this time in the URC – when they beat arch rivals Munster 26-12 last October, in an interprovincial derby watched by 80,468 fans.
They were last in action at GAA headquarters in early April when a 55,627-strong crowd watched them dominate their Champions Cup round of 16 encounter with Harlequins, cruising to a 62-0 victory.
Next Saturday’s BKT URC final itself promises to be an incredible battle, with Ireland’s most decorated province facing South Africa’s most successful club side.
Despite the immense pedigree of both teams, neither has lifted the trophy during the URC era. Cullen’s charges dethroned Glasgow Warriors, the 2024 URC winners, earlier today with a clinical 37-19 semi-final victory.
The Jake White-coached Bulls were beaten finalists in 2022 and last year, while Leinster, the eight-time winners who were last crowned league champions in 2021, will be competing in their first ever URC decider.
Adding to the intrigue, two of Leinster’s three URC semi-final defeats in the last few years have come at the hands of the Bulls, who advanced to the final after beating the Hollywoodbets Sharks 25-13 in a bruising South African derby.
The quality on the pitch will be unquestionable next weekend, with a number of 2025 British & Irish Lions squad members lining up against several Springboks.
The game will be broadcast live on TG4 in Ireland, and Premier Sports in the UK & Ireland, with SuperSport showing all the action for South African fans. Kick-off is at 5pm Irish time/6pm South African time.