Bulls win thrilling URC semi-final to dash Leinster's silverware hopes

Leinster went toe-to-toe with the powerful Bulls at their home fortress and were level at 20-20 after 64 minutes. In a match in which the stakes often felt as high as in a Test match, there was plenty of kicking and aerial battles as both teams prioritised territory.

And it was from an up-and-under that the outcome was decided. Bulls flyhalf Johan Goosen launched the ball high towards the touchline with Ciaran Frawley seemingly safely underneath it. 

But Bulls winger Sergeal Petersen, a much shorter man, got up in the air to challenge and somehow sneaked a hand through onto the ball, tapping it out of the defender’s grasp and then regathering a split-second later, before an extravagant swallow-dive took him over the tryline.

The once-so-dominant Leinster men have now gone three seasons without winning either the URC or in Europe. The shortcomings on Saturday evening were in no way down to a lack of effort.

While the taut contest may not have been the greatest advert for exciting attacking rugby, the action was spellbinding and the quality unmisteakable.

The first quarter was scoreless as the Bulls dominated territory but Leinster threatened with their counter-thrusts. The home side thought they had opened the scoring in the 19th minute but the try was put on ice due to flank Marco van Staden bringing flyhalf Ross Byrne to ground off the ball.

It began a five-minute period in which the Bulls were prone to err in their basics, as Goosen had a drop-out charged down by Garry Ringrose, who returned to action with a tremendous steely performance in midfield. 

From the scrum, Petersen was yellow-carded for a deliberate knock-on as Leinster worked the blindside, and the Bulls were then caught short again on that side in defence as wing James Lowe went over for the opening try.

The Bulls’ replied with their own try just six minutes later, however, with there off-the-ball work this time being superb as Goosen sprinted on to a pass from scrumhalf Embrose Papier in the shadow of the poles to knife through a Leinster defence which up till then had been stopping everything.

The scrum was perhaps the one area where Leinster were consistently shaded, and Goosen was able to kick a 41st-minute penalty from that set-piece to give the Bulls a 10-7 halftime lead.

It meant a crowd of more than 31,000 were in a jovial mood on a mild winter’s evening and their happiness only increased in the second minute of the second half as the Bulls scored a lovely try to stretch their lead to 17-7. 

A blindside move saw centre Harold Vorster in space down the touchline, his deft kick ahead then bounced perfectly for Petersen to gather and score.

The impressive flank Caelan Doris thundered over the tryline though in the 51st minute, escorted by the muscle of Tadhg Furlong and Joe McCarthy.

Byrne levelled the scores with a 59th-minute penalty, slick work from Lowe having forced an offside, but Goosen put the Bulls back in front three minutes later with another penalty.

An attempted jackal by Akker van der Merwe went wrong and cost the home side the lead as Byrne again slotted the penalty to make it 20-20.

But then it all went south for Leinster as the Bulls’ pressure-kicking game paid off and handed them a place in the United Rugby Championship final.

Scorers for Bulls: Tries: Johan Goosen, Sergeal Petersen (2). Conversions: Goosen (2). Penalty: Goosen (2).

Scorers for Leinster: Tries: James Lowe, Caelan Doris. Conversions: Ross Byrne (2). Penalties: Byrne (2) 

Bulls: Le Roux (Smit 56th), Petersen, Kriel, Vorster, Williams, Goosen, Papier, Steenekamp (Matanzima 60th), Grobbelaar (Van der Merwe 41st), W. Louw (Klopper 60th), Vermaak (Ludwig 65th), Nortje, Van Staden (Carr 60th), E. Louw, Hanekom.

Leinster: O’Brien (Osborne 65th), Lamour, Ringrose (Frawley 64th), Henshaw, Lowe, Byrne, Gibson-Park (McGrath 62nd), Porter (Healy 67th), Sheehan (Kelleher 67th), Furlong (Alaalatoa 68th), McCarthy, Ryan (Molony 66th), Baird, Van der Flier (Conan 67th), Doris.