ANOTHER ENTHRALLING KNOCK-out contest but a familiar feeling for Leinster at the end.
Leo Cullen and Jacques Nienaber’s side were second best in Pretoria today and surely there can’t be too many arguments about the Bulls being deserved 25-20 winners.
They had Leinster chasing from the off, even if they didn’t immediately get scoreboard reward for their clever kicking game. Virtually every Bulls possession in the opening quarter involved a smart kick from out-half Johan Goosen or fullback Willie le Roux.
They weren’t interested in playing into the heart of Leinster’s defence with ball in hand, so Goosen and le Roux found kick space on the edges. Their cross-kicking tested Leinster’s lungs at altitude in Loftus Versfeld. In the end, that fatigue told as the Irish province’s efforts to rescue this semi-final came up short.
34-year-old le Roux is a man who knows the Nienaber defence well, having been part of it for so long with the Springboks and his kicking was key. It was le Roux’s stunning 50:22 kick that led to the Bulls’ opening try through Goosen, allowing them to equalise after Leinster had drawn first blood.
That score from James Lowe showed Leinster at their most clinical down in the Bulls’ 22 soon after a disallowed try for the hosts, but they didn’t have enough visits like that one over the 80 minutes. Jake White’s side were able to keep them pinned in their half for long periods of the match.
The Bulls went at Leinster aggressively in the scrum and earned penalty rewards for it, including the last three points of the first half as they took a 10-7 lead into the break.
And in the ‘championship minutes’ after half time, the Bulls were better too as they delivered a classy set-piece try. Hitting midfield from a lineout, they sprung back to the left-hand side to target some of the Leinster forwards coming from the set-piece. Slick handling and a beautiful grubber kick by centre Harold Vorster on the edge allowed wing Sergeal Petersen to finish a superb score.
Leinster had some set-piece quality of their own just before Caelan Doris’ 50th minute try, a clever lineout play allowing them to find space wide on the right before the Bulls infringed. Cullen’s men went into the right corner, won another penalty, and smashed their way over to score through Doris after a decision to tap rather than take the three.
Even the most diehard of Leinster fans would admit that their side got the rub of the green on a few occasions – they might argue they were due a day like that – but they remained under the pump, with sub hooker Rónan Kelleher needed to claim a bouncing ball near their tryline as the Bulls piled more pressure on.
As is so often the case, some magic from Lowe, chipping and gathering before passing inside as he counter-attacked, gave Leinster momentum when they needed it most and a penalty off the back of that foray upfield meant Ross Byrne was able to level the game at 17-17 heading into the final quarter.
The sides then exchanged three-pointers but the winning try arrived in stunning fashion. Leinster had been doing so well in the aerial battle all afternoon but Petersen produced an amazing take of a box kick as he went up against replacement fullback Ciarán Frawley.
It looked like Petersen was just attempting to bat the ball backwards but he somehow nudged it forward and reeled it in one-handed to scorch past Luke McGrath to dot down. It was a brilliant bit of skill on a day when the Bulls had more of those than Leinster.
The fact that Goosen couldn’t convert meant Leinster were still alive with just over 10 minutes left. More than enough time to get back into a winning position. But they couldn’t muster the final thrust they needed.
They had possession but the Bulls’ defence came to the fore in the endgame. Leinster went through 23 phases at one stage, testing the Bulls’ resilience but it was White’s men who won that energy-sapping battle just outside their 22.
The outstanding 22-year-old number eight Cameron Hanekom levelled Doris as part of a double tackle and after all the tackling, the Bulls flooded in for a superb counter-ruck turnover.
Three minutes later, another passage of Leinster multi-phase attack but the same result, a turnover to the Bulls. This time, Ryan Baird couldn’t hold Byrne’s pass and the error was compounded by Jack Conan high-tackling Goosen.
The Bulls playmaker had a shot a goal from 60 metres out with the clock ticking down and when his effort dropped under the Leinster posts, the visitors had one more chance to play out from deep.
But a pass out the back from Baird went to ground and Leinster were left trying to run from their own five-metre line in sheer desperation. The South Africans lapped it up and when the final whistle went, they celebrated with elation.
They go on to the URC final, either against Munster at Thomond Park or versus Glasgow in Loftus Versfeld.
Leinster’s season is over and it concludes without a trophy for the third year in a row. They will probably discuss fine margins and moments that got away in this game, but it’s jarring that a squad with this much international quality and with such resource behind them haven’t been able to grab silverware.
Whatever about the bigger picture, the truth is that the Bulls deserve their place in the final.
