Take a bow again, Leinster. The United Rugby Championship, in all its many iterations over the last quarter of a century, has never been harder to win, and yet never have there been more convincing and deserving champions.
Having topped the regular-season table, when scoring the most tries and points while conceding the least, Leinster made it 18 wins in 21 matches by applying the coup de grace with a commanding 32-7 win over the Bulls to properly mark Saturday’s historic final at Croke Park.
The South Africans had finished second and were one of the only two teams to have beaten Leinster, thanks to a last-minute scrum penalty against an understrength side at home last March. But ultimately, Leinster were first and the rest nowhere as they banished some of the demons generated by three final losses and four semi-final defeats across both competitions – the URC and Champions Cup – in the last four seasons.
Judged by the highest standards, which Leinster set themselves and almost everybody else sets for them too, they’ll still have a few regrets about the season – well one game anyway. However, this emphatic triumph was a mighty weight off their shoulders.
RM Block
“It’s great to get back to winning ways and to win at home at an iconic stadium,” said captain-for-the-day Jack Conan, reflecting the sense of relief, satisfaction and joy among players, backroom staff and supporters alike after he shared the trophy lift with Caelan Doris and Cian Healy.
So many lads here have never won anything for Leinster
— Jack Conan
“Does it mean more than the other ones? Look, we just take it day by day,” added Conan. “But yeah, it’s an unbelievably long year because you’ve got to go to South Africa after we’ve just finished up the Six Nations, so it’s tough.”
Indeed, compared to the scattered sprints of the Champions Cup, the URC is more of a 10-month marathon and thus requires more of a squad effort. Leinster used 58 players in the course of their campaign and Conan made special reference to those who rolled up their sleeves against the Bulls in Pretoria and when beating the Sharks 10-7 a week after that defeat to the Bulls.
What’s more, they also depowered the Bulls on Saturday and put them to the sword despite Jamison Gibson-Park joining Tadhg Furlong, Doris and Hugo Keenan among the absentees.
“I know a lot of them lads weren’t playing today,” said Conan, and in fact 17 of the matchday squad in Durban were not involved in this final, “but we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for those lads and what they did over there.
“So many lads here have never won anything for Leinster. They’ve won a load of stuff for Ireland, they’ve won Grand Slams, Triple Crowns and things, but never won anything for Leinster. We wanted to make it a special day for them, for the lads that are leaving, and fundamentally we just wanted to perform.
“Whether we won by one point, or whatever the scoreline at the end, we just wanted to perform and we did that. I think that’s the most pleasing thing. We’ve been building nicely the last few weeks, and to go out and properly put on a performance today is incredibly special.”
One of those finals and three of the semi-finals had been lost at home and the latest of them – six weeks ago against Northampton – weighed heavily. Hence this trophy lift, lap of honour and a second trophy lift in the Hogan Stand – at the prompting of their media manager Marcus Ó Buachalla – was all the more joyous given Leinster were lifting their first silverware in front of a home crowd since 2018. The 2019 title was won in Glasgow and the two that followed were behind closed doors, which rather took the joy out of it.
Maybe that’s partly what prompted a healthy turnout of 46,127 after just six days’ ticket sales. It eclipsed the previous record attendance for a final in Ireland when Leinster completed the double by beating the Scarlets in the Aviva in 2018.
“They are the memories really,” said head coach Leo Cullen of the post-match celebrations in front of their supporters, and he paid particular thanks to families and friends.
“The players and the staff, we’re in our own little world, it’s the families that have to deal with the brunt of it. The majority of the players are home-grown talent, it is not like a normal professional franchise where people are brought in from wherever, and they probably get it in the neck the most.
“The people [I’m] most happy for is the family and friends who support the players and staff associated with the team through thick and thin. At least it wasn’t one of those ‘hold on’, one-score games at the end, so they were probably able to enjoy the moment. Listen, that’s what sport is about, isn’t it. It’s bloody hard to win anything.”
He knows more than anybody. Cullen took the brunt of the flak for three trophyless seasons and that Northampton defeat, as well as dealing with its implications, along with injuries and the sideshow of a dozen Lions. After each of the five ensuing wins, that Northampton scar was referenced.
“You don’t get any bonus for winning well,” he said. “We started off the season of knock-out games winning a game here very well (62-0 v Harlequins), then won a game six days later very well (52-0 v Glasgow), then it’s not that the wheels fall off, but you lose a very tight game and then have to deal with the fallout from that.
“But that’s just the way it is, that’s just part of the territory. That’s professional sport, that’s the nature of it. It is what it is.”
Those other semi-final and final losses were also in his thoughts.
“We’ve lost in different ways, at the death, after extra-time, but you’ve just got to keep putting ourselves in that position and keep pushing the boundaries of what we do. You get criticism when you lose, [but] it still doesn’t take away from what, personally speaking, I love doing.
“Pressure is great; it’s part and parcel of sport. It’s a great way to feel alive, we’re lucky to be involved in it,” he said, before suggesting that coping with the high expectations is perhaps not always so great.
“Keep the abuse coming,” said Cullen cheerily. “We don’t mind. Thick skins.”
