Cape Town - It was an epic display by the Bulls in beating Leinster in Dublin, but can they back it up with a repeat performance in the United Rugby Championship (URC) final against the Stormers?
As things stand, the odds are certainly against them. Most of the Bulls contingent only arrived back in South Africa yesterday, and will only get together at practice today.
Yes, they had the extra rest day on Saturday, but spent most of it waiting anxiously to see what happened in the Stormers-Ulster semi-final.
They had to quickly arrange flights to Johannesburg after they pulled off a dramatic 17-15 win, and had to fly via Paris and Dubai to get home. Essentially, they have just four days to get ready for the title decider at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday (7.30pm kick-off).
But apart from their travel woes, the main challenge facing Jake White’s team is whether they produce the same physicality and urgency that was on display at the RDS Arena.
ALSO READ: Bulls URC final profiles: Arendse, Moodie and Tambwe make the back-three sizzle
Even a first-half head knock to wing David Kriel didn’t deter the Pretoria side from knocking their illustrious opponents off kilter. Kurt-Lee Arendse came on at fullback, Canan Moodie moved to wing and the Bulls band continued to play.
Moodie made some terrific defensive hits and was outstanding in the air, Arendse put in some electric runs from the back and Madosh Tambwe also kept the Leinster defence busy.
Centres Cornal Hendricks and Harold Vorster did the hard yards in midfield in dealing with Leinster’s Irish pair of Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose, and half-backs Zak Burger and Chris Smith controlled the tempo of the game expertly.
But of course, all of that was possible because the forwards played the games of their lives. Walt Steenkamp and Ruan Nortje read the Leinster line-out like a book and the rest of the pack got stuck in on defence and at the breakdowns, which totally messed up the Dubliners’ renowned phase-based attacking strategy that is reliant on quick, front-foot ball.
The energy that Johan Grobbelaar showed all over the park was immense, and captain Marcell Coetzee wasn’t far behind.
ALSO READ: Tickets for URC final between Stormers and Bulls on sale from Tuesday
But did the Bulls play their ‘final’ against Leo Cullen’s team? It was almost a perfect storm in Dublin for the visitors. They had been written off all week – in South Africa and Ireland – with most of the talk being about by how much the hosts would win, as Coetzee’s team had just squeaked past the Sharks 30-27 at Loftus Versfeld in their quarter-final and weren’t considered real threats in the semi-final.
Leinster had also come off a monstrous 76-14 quarter-final win over Glasgow, which was their backlash after losing the Champions Cup final against La Rochelle a week earlier.
But the manner in which the Bulls almost overwhelmed the four-time defending champions at times suggested that they had played above themselves. While they had dominated some of the Welsh sides at Loftus earlier this year, they hadn’t beaten any Irish side away, and had made heavy weather of getting past Munster 29-24 in Pretoria.
They had also lost to the Stormers and Sharks home and away before the play-offs.*
@AshfakMohamed