Leinster Show Table-Topping Form To Lift URC Trophy

Leinster lifted their first trophy since 2021 after a convincing 32-7 BKT United Rugby Championship final win over the Vodacom Bulls at Croke Park.

The wet weather failed to deter an attendance of 46,127 – a record for a league decider in Ireland – as Leo Cullen’s men became the first table-topping team to win the title in the URC era.

Despite Jamison Gibson-Park’s pre-match withdrawal, Leinster roared into a 19-0 half-time lead with tries from captain Jack Conan, Jordie Barrett, and Josh van der Flier.

Beaten finalists in 2022 and 2024, the Bulls crossed in the 50th minute through replacement Akker van der Merwe to cancel out a Sam Prendergast penalty.

Prendergast took his haul to 10 points, and Fintan Gunne’s closing try was fittingly converted by fellow replacement Ross Byrne in his final game before his move to Gloucester.

With Ryan Baird the player-of-the-match for the second week running, and the hosts winning some key battles in the air and at scrum time, it was a fine finish to the campaign for Leinster’s twelve British & Irish Lions representatives who now head into camp ahead of the tour to Australia.

Departing All Black Barrett produced one of his best performances in Leinster blue, while tighthead Thomas Clarkson and veteran scrum half Luke McGrath, who impressively stepped in as a starter, also stood out.

Conan had injured captain Caelan Doris and retiring prop Cian Healy alongside him to lift the trophy together, as Cullen’s side banished memories of three successive URC semi-final defeats, including two against the Bulls.

Indeed it was Conan who pointed the way for the province with a fifth-minute try, crashing over after Dan Sheehan had broken off a lineout maul. Prendergast converted neatly from the right.

The influential Barrett got his right boot to McGrath’s deft dink over the top in the 13th minute, opening up the Bulls’ back-field to brilliantly score beside the posts.

Van der Flier emerged through a maul to make it 19-0, as penalties continued to prove costly for the possession-starved Bulls.

The South Africans finally got some momentum approaching the interval, battering away through multiple phases before Willie le Roux was guilty of a poor kick and then a forward pass.

Although Prendergast opened the second half’s scoring following a scrum penalty, the visitors hit back when van der Merwe drove over for Johan Goosen to convert.

It remained 22-7 with Leinster failing to capitalise on a close-in tap penalty taken by van der Flier, while Prendergast also pushed a kickable penalty wide.

The young Ireland out-half was back on target in the 67th minute, and Gunne then scored from a sharp wraparound move, looping around to take Byrne’s pass and use his speed and strength to ground his first senior try for the province.