United Rugby Championship final
Leinster (22) 36
Tries: O’Brien, Ioane, Conan, Prendergast, Byrne Cons: Prendergast 3, Byrne Pens: Prendergast
Bulls (0) 7
Tries: Moodie Cons: Pollard
Leinster retained their United Rugby Championship title in convincing fashion as they defeated the Bulls in the final at Croke Park for the second year in a row to become the first back-to-back champions.
For the Irish province, the 36-7 victory goes some way to atoning for the disappointment of missing out on a fifth European Champions Cup crown when they lost to Bordeaux-Begles in the decider of that competition in Bilbao last month.
Leinster dominated the opening period and led 22-0 at the interval thanks to tries from Tommy O’Brien, Rieko Ioane and Jack Conan as the Pretoria side paid the penalty for an error-strewn first-half performance which saw them twice reduced to 14 men for deliberate knock-on offences.
Sam Prendergast and Harry Byrne added further scores after the break, with Canan Moodie crossing for Bulls, who found themselves on the wrong end of two debatable decisions by the officials as they crossed the line twice more for tries that were ruled out.
Leinster have now won the league 10 times in its various guises – the first to defend the URC crown since its 2021 rebrand – while the Bulls suffered disappointment yet again with a fourth defeat in the past five URC finals.
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