Having closely analyzed the Leinster squad, Vodacom Bulls coach Jake White has admitted that it feels as though they will be playing against the Ireland national team in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship (URC) final on Saturday.

Leinster, who are assisted by former Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber, boast several established Ireland stars in their starting lineup set to face the Bulls at Croke Park, Dublin, in the URC final on Saturday [18:00].

These include prominent players such as Garry Ringrose, Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park, Andrew Porter, Josh van der Flier, and James Lowe, to name a few.

The South African side, who also have their share of Springboks in their starting XV, are making their third appearance in the URC final in the last four years since South African teams joined the competition in 2022.

The Bulls lost to the Stormers in the 2022 final at DHL Stadium, with the Stormers securing home advantage by finishing higher in the overall table. Last year, they suffered another defeat in the final to Glasgow Warriors on their home turf at Loftus Versfeld.

“Let me say this to you, one of the things that is interesting – and I have been around a long time – they [South African fans] didn’t buy into Super Rugby when we joined that either,” White remarked at a press conference on Friday when asked if South Africans are now warming up to the URC. “They didn’t understand it. They didn’t know who the guys from Waikato were, but as time went on, they got a better feel for how Super Rugby worked.”

White continued, addressing the current perception of the URC: “The URC, I will be honest, they are still not sure about how it fits in because when we play Saracens [from England in the Champions Cup], they ask if it’s a URC game, or Northampton, ‘is that a URC?’ I think with time, they have realized that it is a phenomenal tournament; they see the best players in the world. It’s no different from when Super Rugby started to take off. They realized that Christian Cullen was playing for Hurricanes, and you’d see [the late] Jonah Lomu for Auckland.”

Emphasizing the calibre of their opponents, White stated: “Let’s be fair, we are playing against Ireland tomorrow. It just happens that they are playing with a different color jersey on Saturday, but we are playing Ireland. And that’s probably why South Africans have also tuned in, because they know these players are Irish internationals.”

Indeed, a direct clash between South Africa’s Springboks and Ireland will come later this year during the Autumn Nations Series in November.

“I have messaged back home, and people are supporting the Bulls; people in Cape Town are supporting the Bulls, people in Durban are supporting the Bulls,” continued White, who famously guided the Springboks to World Cup glory in 2007. “I mean, that’s like Munster supporting Leinster to play the Bulls. But that’s just what happens when it’s rugby fever. They have bought into it, and it is no different from how it happened in Super Rugby.”

Despite the growing support, White acknowledged ongoing challenges in fully embedding the URC: “It is still not entirely there because, I must stress, we had the Cheetahs playing in Amsterdam in the Challenge Cup. A guy lives in Bloemfontein and can’t work out why his team doesn’t play in Bloem but plays in Amsterdam. But I think it is going to happen over time.”

He concluded by stressing the importance of a victory: “We need to win this tournament because it is going to help our public take it even more seriously.”

The Bulls reached the final after overcoming the Springbok-laden Sharks in a semi-final last weekend, despite having three players temporarily sent off with yellow cards.