Pollard Starts In Loaded Grand Final 23
The team sheet says everything.
Not just about how the Vodacom Bulls intend to approach this Vodacom URC Grand Final, but about how seriously they are treating a moment that has eluded them for five seasons.
Eleven Springboks in the starting XV.
This is no longer a side learning how to win a final. This is a side selected to win one.
Johan Ackermann’s selection is deliberate. There are no experiments, no risks, and no sentiment. Instead, he has leaned fully into experience, pedigree and proven winners — a spine built around players who have felt the pressure of Test rugby and thrived under it.
From Willie le Roux at fullback, orchestrating and anticipating, to Kurt-Lee Arendse and Canan Moodie out wide, the Vodacom Bulls possess the attacking firepower to punish even the smallest lapse. Inside them, Harold Vorster provides directness, physicality and the ability to win the collisions that matter most in a final.
But it is at halfback where the selection truly reveals its intent.
Handré Pollard starts at flyhalf.
In a final, that is a statement. Pollard does not merely play knockout rugby — he defines it. Territory, scoreboard pressure and composure. The Vodacom Bulls are backing a man who has built his career on making the right decision when everything is on the line.
Alongside him, Embrose Papier provides tempo and energy, but it is clear where the control will lie: firmly in Pollard’s hands.
Up front, the message is even louder.
This is a pack selected to take the fight directly to Leinster.
Gerhard Steenekamp, Johan Grobbelaar and Francois Klopper form a front row built on scrummaging solidity. Behind them, Ruan Nortje and Ruan Vermaak bring steel and relentless work rate — players who understand that finals are often won in the unseen battles.
Then comes the loose trio: Marcell Coetzee (captain), Elrigh Louw and Cameron Hanekom.
It would be difficult to assemble a more combative and confrontational combination. Coetzee leads not through words but through actions — tackle after tackle, ruck after ruck. Louw provides carrying power, while Hanekom offers dynamism and athleticism. Together, they have been tasked with one of the most difficult jobs in club rugby: stopping Leinster at the source.
Even the bench reinforces the theme.
There is no drop-off, no soft edge. Players such as Marco van Staden and Wilco Louw ensure that when the game tightens — and it almost certainly will — the Vodacom Bulls can raise the intensity rather than merely sustain it.
This is a 23 built for an 80-minute contest.
Because Leinster will ask questions.
They will test fitness, discipline and accuracy. They will stretch the game, recycle relentlessly and force decisions under pressure. At home in Dublin, they thrive on that suffocating rhythm — the sense that if you are even slightly off, even briefly, the game slips beyond your reach.
The Vodacom Bulls will not be trying to match Leinster’s game.
They will be trying to impose their own.
With Pollard controlling territory, Le Roux directing the backfield and a forward pack designed to dominate collisions, they have built a blueprint that says: make it physical, make it relentless and make every moment count.
Eleven Springboks start this game.
These are players who have lifted trophies, absorbed pressure and delivered when it mattered most.
Which leaves only one question:
When the final turns, as it always does, will this group turn with it?
Vodacom Bulls
- Gerhard Steenekamp
- Johan Grobbelaar
- Francois Klopper
- Ruan Vermaak
- Ruan Nortje
- Marcell Coetzee (captain)
- Elrigh Louw
- Cameron Hanekom
- Embrose Papier
- Handré Pollard
- Stravino Jacobs
- Harold Vorster
- Canan Moodie
- Kurt-Lee Arendse
- Willie le Roux
Replacements:
16. Marco van Staden
17. Jan-Hendrik Wessels
18. Wilco Louw
19. Cobus Wiese
20. Jeandre Rudolph
21. Zak Burger
22. Stedman Gans
23. Nizaam Carr
