Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus provided an extra carrot to the Vodacom Bulls when he spoke ahead of Saturday’s Vodacom United Rugby Championship Grand Final against Leinster of what a win for the Pretoria team would say about the international capabilities of individual players.
As Bulls director of rugby Jake White has said a few times, this match is the Bulls against Ireland, with the home team in the Croke Park decider pretty much made up of Irish internationals, plus an All Black in the midfield and a Springbok double World Cup winner and a French international on the bench.
Leinster have been bolstered by the return of Garry Ringrose to partner Jordie Barrett in the midfield, and Josh van der Flier, a thorn in the Bok side in the past, is back on the flank. Both missed the semifinal against Glasgow Warriors because of injury.
Significantly, Barrett missed the semifinal that Leinster will want to forget, the Investec Champions Cup one, but that is not a mistake their coach Leo Cullen was prepared to make again and he has started all the big games since.
Some might raise eyebrows at the appearance of RG Snyman as a bench player for this game, but it is a role he fulfils often and does well and it is a continuation of a trend that was started when he was such a vital cog in the Bok ‘Bomb Squad’ in the first of two successive RWC triumphs in Japan in 2019.
THIS IS IT 🐂
— Official Blue Bulls (@BlueBullsRugby) June 12, 2025
YOUR team to face Leinster on Saturday in the VURC GRAND FINAL 🏆
🐂 Leinster v Vodacom Bulls
🗓️ 14 June 2025
⏰ 18:00 SAST
📍 Croke Park, Dublin
🎟️ TICKETS: https://t.co/vufEzwsPam @Vodacom #URC | @URCOfficial_RSA #ForeverBlue pic.twitter.com/LZxYIci0pm
BULLS PLAYERS CAN FORCE THEIR WAY IN
Leinster do have class across the board and multiple threats, but then there are players in the Bulls team that Erasmus reminded us could force their way into Bok recognition if they do well on this biggest stage beneath international level.
One of those he mentioned was scrumhalf Embrose Papier, a 28-year-old product of Darling flower country on the Cape West Coast, a player who has upstaged most of the halfbacks he has played against in recent times yet hasn’t been part of Erasmus’ plans since 2018, when he was just 21.
Another was the wing Sebastian de Klerk, who was phenomenal against the Hollywoodbets Sharks last weekend in the Pretoria semifinal. And then there are the selections that White has made that has given the Bulls an extra dynamic and have helped give Erasmus additional options as the new international season, which kicks off with a game against the Barbarians in Cape Town two weeks hence, hurtles up the track towards us.
Erasmus said he wouldn’t be using Bulls players in that first game because there wouldn’t be enough training time for them to get used to “new things we have been working on”. He will also be waiting to assess the injury situation after the final before on Sunday morning announcing a more streamlined squad of 42 players.
RASSIE ACKNOWLEDGES JAKE HAS HELPED HIM
But Erasmus made it clear that there are several things he has noted about the Bulls that have helped him and in that sense he has reason to give thanks to White.
“Jacques Nienaber is a good friend of mine and he is involved with Leinster, but I really hope the Bulls win,” said Erasmus.
“Jake has helped me on so many fronts with his selections this year and what he has tried. Like using Jan-Hendrik Wessels as a loosehead and a hooker. He has also helped out by playing Ruan Nortje as a No 7 flank. That has really worked well and gives us an extra option when it comes to blindside flanks.”
𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩. 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙚'𝙧𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙙𝙚 𝙤𝙛. 💙
— Leinster Rugby (@leinsterrugby) June 12, 2025
Here is your Leinster team to take on @BlueBullsRugby in the @URCOfficial Grand Final at Croke Park on Saturday! 🔵🔥
Team news 👉 https://t.co/mvHktFmYEr#LEIvBUL #NeverLessThanEverything pic.twitter.com/gpP58UgIuF
It has also given the Bulls a quite scary dimension when it comes to the pack and memory of where the Bulls have laid the platform for their previous two semifinal wins over Leinster - away in 2022 and at home last year - suggests that may be where the visitors can take the overwhelming favourites out of their comfort zone.
Wessels has effectively replaced the injured Gerhard Steenekamp, who along with Wilco Louw played such a big role in setting up the scrum dominance that shocked Leinster at Loftus 12 months ago.
Nortje captaining from No 7 means that both Cobus Wiese, who Erasmus rates highly and has paid off his decision to return to South Africa with selection to the Bok group, and the highly promising young JF van Heerden can be accommodated in the front row.
Van der Flier is back for Leinster and Cameron Hanekom is out injured for the Bulls but White’s depth has been illustrated by him being able to recall Marco van Staden, another Bok, as the Bulls’ answer to the Ireland ball scavenger.
PACK CAN TAKE LEINSTER OUT OF COMFORT ZONE
Marcell Coetzee is back at the No 8 position he played so well for Ulster over many years so it is hard to find any weaknesses in the Bulls pack.
Like the Proteas bowling attack in the WTC final at Lord’s, it gives the Bulls at the very least a puncher's chance of pulling off a win that will make South Africa proud and significantly boost the confidence levels of the Boks when they head to Dublin for a test match in November.
The Bulls have some fine players at the back too. Erasmus mentioned De Klerk and he also mentioned centre David Kriel as another player knocking on the door to national selection. Of course he doesn’t need to talk up Canan Moodie, or for that matter Willie le Roux.
The Bulls aren’t quite as Bok-laden as the Sharks, but maybe that’s a good thing as it means the Pretoria team has more players that have something to prove and aren’t living off previous glories.
Then there’s the much-improved Bulls defensive system, or at least it was last week. It is a long shot given how formidable Leinster are at home, and the hosts do start as strong favourites, not the least because the Bulls have had to travel and they did look out on their feet after edging home against a Sharks team that dominated so many aspects of the semifinal.
Here’s how Leinster and the Vodacom Bulls match up this season 🎥 📊
— BKT United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial) June 12, 2025
Where do you think the game might be won or lost this weekend? 👀#BKTURC #URC | #HitsDifferent #LEIvBUL pic.twitter.com/JhRG8vB2AS
TIMING OF INTERNATIONAL START MAKES A DIFFERENCE
The Bulls lost at home to Glasgow in last year’s final but the one big difference between now and then is that this game isn’t being played on the same day as the Boks are in action. In 2024 the final was preceded by the Boks playing Wales and it is understood that deflected the Bulls a bit.
This time around there is a two-week gap before the Boks are in action, and it enables the Bulls to be motivated by a Rassie carrot they did not have a year ago.
My money says this will be a closer game than many are expecting for much of the way but that the hosts will make sure of it and put daylight between the teams in the last quarter. Regardless of what happens, this will be a better measure of the strength, or weakness, of SA franchise rugby than the Champions Cup.
Teams
Leinster: Jimmy O’Brien, Tommy O’Brien, Garry Ringrose, Jordie Barrett, James Lowe, Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park, Jack Conan (captain), Josh van der Flier, Ryan Baird, James Ryan, Joe McCarthy, Thomas Clarkson, Dan Sheehan, Andrew Porter. Replacements: Ronan Kellher, Jack Boyle, Rabah Slimani, RG Snyman, Max Deegan, Luke McGrath, Ross Byrne, Jamie Osborne
Vodacom Bulls: Willie le Roux, Canan Moodie, David Kriel, Harold Vorster, Sebastian de Klerk, Johan Goosen, Embrose Papier, Marcell Coetzee, Ruan Nortje (captain), Marco van Staden, JF van Heerden, Cobus Wiese, Wilco Louw, Johan Grobbelaar, Jan-Hendrik Wessels. Replacements: Akker van der Merwe, Alulutho Tshakweni, Mornay Smith, Jannes Kirsten, Nizaam Carr, Zak Burger, Keagan Johannes, Devon Williams.
Referee: Andrea Pardi (Italy)
Kick-off: 6pm
Prediction: Leinster to win by 12