Cape Town - Most rugby fans won’t be giving the Bulls much of a chance to cause an upset against Leinster in Friday night’s United Rugby Championship semi-final in Dublin (8.35pm SA time kickoff).
Perhaps even diehard supporters are already accepting their favourite team’s fate at the RDS Arena, where a Leinster team filled with Irish internationals and who have won four titles in a row lie in wait.
So good are Leo Cullen’s team that they could afford to bench stalwarts such as Johnny Sexton, Cian Healy and Sean Cronin.
The Bulls don’t even have any current Springboks in their side, while their most lethal attacker, Kurt-Lee Arendse, is only back from a broken thumb this week after a few months on the sideline.
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They lost Trevor Nyakane to Racing 92 late last year, and their star signing Johan Goosen sustained a serious knee injury in their maiden URC tour to Europe.
But it is exactly that kind of situation that could make the Bulls dangerous. Look, if Leinster are at their absolute best, they should be comfortable winners, and they showed what kind of mood they are in by dismantling Glasgow 76-14 in last week’s quarter-final.
They were hurting from the European Champions Cup final defeat to La Rochelle a week earlier, but now Jake White’s team will be hoping that the Irish giants will be expecting another easy ride against the Bulls, which could open the door for the South Africans.
“I am also a realist. I’ve been coaching for 40 years and I also know that you mustn’t get ahead of yourself. The Leinster brand and group haven’t just landed here by default. How are we going to do it? One of the exciting things about sport in general is that people follow teams, and they wait for that day where there’s a game that they can say ‘I was there’,” White said from Dublin on Thursday.
“And that’s what makes sport so significantly different to everything. There is a chance… there is always a chance, and if you don’t believe there is a chance, it’s not going to happen.
“We are going to give it our best shot, and to play Leinster away – I’ve just said they have lost only 21 out of 225 URC games (at the RDS Arena), that’s not a bad record. And the group of players like they’ve got, which they’ve built together, is also a daunting task.
“But La Rochelle proved that it is possible, and that they’re only human. That’s the message that I’ve got for our players: people will remember great games, and this could be the making of a great game. We’ve got a great opportunity as a group, and I just want them to give it a full crack and believe that they can do it.”
The Bulls have insisted that they have moved on from the 31-3 opening-round hiding against Leinster last September at the Aviva Stadium, and they have reason to feel that they are an improved side.
Marcell Coetzee’s team have played some thrilling rugby – although mainly at Loftus Versfeld – where they have varied their attack superbly. Arendse and Madosh Tambwe are near the top of many attack stats in the competition, while captain Coetzee is the fourth-leading try-scorer as well.
They have unearthed a dynamic young lock in Ruan Nortje, who is destined for Bok honours, while No 8 Elrigh Louw will be hoping to impress the national selectors once more.
The forwards have been a bit inconsistent as a unit, though, with their scrum in particular under pressure at times. But they have had some good passages in the set-pieces as well, and have a knack of winning opposition lineouts too.
Their main challenge will be to stop Leinster from generating quick ball from the breakdown, which allows their lethal backline to operate with front-foot possession.
If they can do that, get the scoreboard ticking with a few Chris Smith penalties and back their ball-in-hand attacking approach, they would be able to stay in the contest – and then anything can happen in a playoff.
Teams
Leinster: 15 Jimmy O’Brien 14 Jordan Larmour 13 Garry Ringrose 12 Robbie Henshaw 11 Rory O’Loughlin 10 Ross Byrne 9 Jamison Gibson-Park 8 Jack Conan 7 Josh van der Flier 6 Caelan Doris 5 James Ryan (captain) 4 Joe McCarthy 3 Tadhg Furlong 2 Dan Sheehan 1 Andrew Porter.
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin 17 Cian Healy 18 Michael Ala’alatoa 19 Ross Molony 20 Ryan Baird 21 Luke McGrath 22 Johnny Sexton 23 Ciaran Frawley.
Bulls: 15 Canan Moodie 14 David Kriel 13 Cornal Hendricks 12 Harold Vorster 11 Madosh Tambwe 10 Chris Smith 9 Zak Burger 8 Elrigh Louw 7 Arno Botha 6 Marcell Coetzee (captain) 5 Ruan Nortje 4 Walt Steenkamp 3 Mornay Smith 2 Johan Grobbelaar 1 Gerhard Steenekamp.
Replacements: 16 Bismarck du Plessis 17 Simphiwe Matanzima 18 Robert Hunt 19 Janko Swanepoel 20 WJ Steenkamp 21 Embrose Papier 22 Morné Steyn 23 Kurt-Lee Arendse.
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