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Both Leinster and the Bulls have had dry spells since last winning a major title and will be hungry to lift the URC trophy in Dublin on Saturday.
Leinster hooker Dan Sheehan believes no team is hungrier than they are to lift the URC title in Dublin this coming weekend. Picture: Seb Daly/Sportsfile via Getty Images
Leinster hooker Dan Sheehan believes that his side are “hungrier” than the Bulls are to lift the United Rugby Championship (URC) title at Croke Park on Saturday when the teams collide in the competition’s Grand Final.
It has been a dire time for Leinster fans over the past four years, with them unable to win a single major trophy, despite them bosting arguably the strongest club team in the world.
Their last taste of major success came in the 2020-21 Pro14 season when they won their fourth straight title, but after that the South African sides joined, turning the competition into the URC, and Leinster haven’t won since.
They have also stumbled on the biggest stage, in the Champions Cup, since last winning that in the 2017-18 season. They have gone on to finish runners up four times, reached the semifinals twice and the quarterfinals once.
It has thus been a long dry spell for one of Europe’s powerhouse teams and they will be desperate to get back into the winners’ circle this weekend, as evidenced by Sheehan’s impassioned words.
“Absolutely no way that will happen. We’ve had six weeks or however long it is to focus on the URC and we’ve been trophyless the last however many years and I think the hunger is there for sure in the group,” said Sheehan after being asked if the Bulls would be hungrier for the title.
“There’s absolutely no way that a team will be hungrier than us. You can feel the buzz coming in this morning, people are excited, (and it’s) another final to look forward to.”
Hungry Bulls
The Bulls will however also be very hungry for the title, as they have been in a long dry spell themselves, having last tasted success in the local Currie Cup competition in 2021.
Their last success in international tournaments is all the way back in 2010, when they secured their third Super Rugby title, and have since lost in three major international finals, the 2021 Rainbow Cup, and the 2021-22 and 2023-24 URC finals.
The Bulls have had success over Leinster in the URC knockouts, beating them twice in the URC semis, 20-19 in the 2021-22 campaign in Dublin, and 25-20 in Pretoria last season, and Sheehan admits they will have learnt from those losses heading into the final.
“We’ve taken our lessons from it over the years. I’m sure we’ll refer back to it during the week if there are poignant messages we need to take from it again, to remind ourselves,” said Sheehan.
“But we are focussing on the here and now, the present squad. That might be fuel for the fire, that the Bulls have got the better of us over the last couple of years for sure. They are a dangerous team, and we need to make sure we turn up.
“We didn’t play the worst against them over the last couple of years and they still got the better of us, so we need to make sure we are all guns blazing.”
