Bulls must get that winning feeling, says White

After suffering the pain of failure in two previous United Rugby Championship (URC) cup finals, it would be tremendously satisfying for the Bulls to taste what it feels like to get over the line when they face Leinster on Saturday, coach Jake White says.

The Bulls are hoping it will be third time lucky at Croke Park in Dublin after defeats against the Stormers (2022) and Glasgow Warriors (2024) in their previous URC cup final appearances.

White was upbeat when his team arrived in Dublin and said his troops were better prepared than they were for the 2024 final.

“It would be nice for them to taste what it is like when you get over the line,” White said.

“One thing I am proud of is how we have made changes to our squad by bringing in new guys all the time, and have still won big games.

“That makes me positive about what is coming on Saturday.

“My job is to channel the positive energy of where we are in the season and what we have achieved so far.

“The Bulls have a high calibre of players, and we have leadership growth. A lot of the players have beaten Leinster in big games.

“We did not have Cameron Hanekom when we beat them there in 2022 in a URC semifinal.

“The Bulls had Marcell Coetzee and Marco van Staden to name just two, and we will have them again.

“The thing we can control is who is in the team for the final.

“Then it is the coaching staff’s job to ensure they are well prepared — mentally, physically, and importantly, in terms of excitement and motivation.

“A big reason you coach is because you want your team to know what it is like to win something big.

“It is a gift I would like to give this group after all they have put in over the last four years. And they have come close.”

White doesn’t feel that losing two previous finals will have any effect on this weekend’s game against the Irish giants.

“To be fair, it’s completely different teams, competitions, venues, different time of the year,” he said.

“People can look at it and say this team loses semis, this team loses finals. This team has a lot of Irish players. It’s irrelevant, it doesn’t matter.

“I generally don’t believe any coach ever talks about what happened 20 years ago.

“We’ve made three finals, and the average age of our team over the last four years has been the youngest of most teams in the competition.

“Many of the teams we play are laden with internationals, who play in front of big crowds and in big stadiums in pressure situations, which define players who are good enough.

“I’m not saying we’re not aware that we’ve had previous finals, but we are also very aware that we have exceeded what everyone has expected, and we have probably batted above our weight for a long time.”

Dynamic Bulls loose forward Marcell Coetzee said valuable lessons were learnt during his team’s previous cup final defeats.

“In that first final against the Stormers, we scored off the back of a line-out maul after two minutes, so we had a good start and a good first half,” he said.

“But it shows you can’t just rely on those moments, and we might have missed our kicking game, particularly in the second half.

“In the second final against Glasgow, we again made a great start to lead 13-0 after 25 minutes. But you can’t let the opposition in and get the ascendancy and build momentum.

“It is going to come down to moments and how we manage them, and how calm, collected and controlled we are. And that comes with experience.”