Bulls v Leinster: Five takeaways as Springboks veteran ‘saves the day’ for hosts after champions deliver much improved effort
Bulls utility back Willie le Roux and Leinster fly-half Sam Prendergast.
Following a 39-31 victory for the Bulls over Leinster at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria, here’s our five takeaways from Saturday’s United Rugby Championship (URC) encounter.
The top line
The Bulls have made it two wins from two in the URC. After beating Ospreys in a high scoring affair in last week’s opener it was a similar story against the defending champions Leinster on Saturday.
The match started brightly for the home side as they raced into a 12-0 lead by the 13th minute after Sebastian de Klerk and David Kriel crossed for tries with Keagan Johannes slotting one conversion.
Midway through the half, Sam Prendergast opened Leinster’s account via a penalty before a converted Thomas Clarkson try on the half hour-mark meant the visitors had narrowed the gap to two points.
However, a penalty from Johannes and a converted Mpilo Gumede try meant the Bulls had their tails up at half-time as they were holding a 22-10 lead.
Leinster then showed why they are the current URC champions as they came out firing after the restart and had taken a 24-22 lead by the 47th minute courtesy of well-taken tries from Hugh Cooney and Tommy O’Brien with Prendergast succeeding with both conversions.
The rest of this match was a topsy turvy affair with the lead changing hands on several occasions. In the 57th minute, Willie le Roux replaced Johannes at fly-half and shortly afterwards the veteran Springbok crossed for a well-taken try.
Leinster refused to surrender, however, and in the 66th minute Scott Penny dotted down with Prendergast slotting the conversion to give the champions a 31-27 lead.
The Bulls would finish stronger, though, and two tries from Stravino Jacobs and Kriel in the game’s dying moments would secure the result for the hosts, who gained revenge after losing to Leinster in last season’s URC final.
Le Roux’s experience makes the difference
The home side dominated the early exchanges and held a deserved lead at the interval, but they lost their way during the early stages of the second half when Leinster launched their fightback and those tries from Cooney and O’Brien saw them taking the lead for the first time in the match.
In the 55th minute the visitors thought they had extended that lead when Ryan Baird crashed over under the posts. However, television replays were inconclusive and no try was awarded.
That was a crucial moment in the match as the momentum was with Leinster at that time and shortly afterwards Bulls boss Johan Ackermann made a tactical switch by replacing Johannes with Springboks veteran Le Roux.
That decision reaped rewards immediately when he crossed for his try which saw the Bulls regain the lead. Although the final quarter was a frantic affair, the 36-year-old showed his class as he delivered a perfectly weighted chip kick which Jacobs gathered before crossing for his try.
Le Roux’s calmness under pressure during the game’s dying moments certainly saved the day for the Bulls and helped them to secure this victory.
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Much improved Leinster performance
After starting the defence of their URC title with an underwhelming performance against the Stormers last week, there was plenty of pressure on Leinster ahead of this fixture.
Although they were under the cosh for most of the opening half, they showed why they are the defending champions as they launched a superb comeback after the break and took a deserved lead early in the second stanza.
The likes of Prendergast, Robbie Henshaw, Cooney and captain Luke McGrath led the revival amongst the backs while players like Baird, Alex Soroka and Max Deegan led the onslaught up front.
Although they had chances to win the match in the game’s closing stages, it wasn’t to be as the Bulls finished stronger.
Despite losing for the second successive week, they leave Pretoria with a point for scoring four tries and will hope to get their campaign on track when they host the Sharks at the Aviva Stadium next weekend.
Gumede catches eye with fine display
The home side will be happy that they managed to clinch their second successive victory ahead of their upcoming overseas tour and several players caught the eye with outstanding individual performances.
The Bulls’ backs looked dangerous on attack with Kriel, Embrose Papier, Jacobs, De Klerk and Harold Vorster all catching the eye while the Springboks trio of Marcell Coetzee, Johann Grobbelaar and Gerhard Steenekamp also impressed in the forward exchanges.
However, one player who deserves special praise is blindside flanker Gumede, who came to the fore with an excellent all-round display as he emptied the tank on either side of the ball.
The 25-year-old kept Leinster’s defence busy with some barnstorming runs and was rewarded with a try for his efforts while also putting his body on the line on defence and it was not a surprise when he was named as the official man of the match.
Will Connors lucky to escape red card
A big talking point in this encounter was when Leinster were reduced to 14 men in the 22nd minute with Will Connors yellow carded for an illegal tackle on young Bulls number eight JJ Theron.
The Bulls launched an the attack and Theron was knocked backwards by a flying tackle from Connors who charged head-first into his opponent. Their was a clash of heads which left Theron prone on the ground and requiring medical attention.
Referee Adam Jones issued a yellow card to Connors but the incident was reviewed by the bunker to see if it met the red card threshold.
A few minutes later, it was revealed that the yellow card would stand as there was some mitigation with Theron bending slightly ahead of contact and Connors soon returned to the fray.
Bulls fans were livid with the decision and wanted Connors to see red although if that was the case the Irish province would only be reduced to 14 men for a brief period as the URC have adopted the global World Rugby trial of the 20-minute red-card law for the 2025-26 season.