Overview
- Leinster defeated the Vodacom Bulls 36-7 to defend the United Rugby Championship crown, a result confirmed on Friday, June 19.
- The match turned in the opening minutes when Canan Moodie was yellow-carded for a deliberate knock-on and the Bulls chose to play on rather than take the scrum, which led directly to Leinster’s opening try.
- Ackermann said his team ‘didn’t really give ourselves a chance’ and pointed to lost lineouts, scrappy set-piece work and handling errors as the core reasons they could not build a platform to compete.
- Two second-half Bulls tries by Harold Vorster and Ruan Nortjé were overturned after TMO review, prompting public criticism from former Springboks Schalk Burger and Victor Matfield about the clarity of the video decisions.
- Hours later in Gqeberha the Springboks used a high‑scoring 80-31 exhibition win over the Barbarians to test depth, with Edwill van der Merwe scoring a hat-trick and Cheslin Kolbe converting most of the tries.