Leinster successfully defended their Vodacom United Rugby Championship title with a deserved 36-7 victory (half-time 22-0) over an uncharacteristic hapless Vodacom Bulls side in the Grand Final at Croke Park in Dublin on Friday evening.
The Vodacom Bulls will return to Dublin for a second successive Vodacom United Rugby Championship Grand Final against Leinster after the two teams won their respective semi-finals in an enthralling weekend of rugby.
All four domestic Vodacom United Rugby Championship teams face a stern test in their round-three clashes overseas this weekend, where log leaders, the Vodacom Bulls and DHL Stormers will do their best to stretch their unbeaten runs in the competition.
Will the Vodacom Bulls be third time lucky or can Leinster break their Vodacom United Rugby Championship drought?
The Vodacom Bulls will travel to Dublin where they will line up against Leinster in the Vodacom URC Grand Final next Saturday after the two top-ranked teams defeated the Hollywoodbets Sharks and Glasgow Warriors respectively in a gripping semi-final round.
The Hollywoodbets Sharks host Leinster in one of their biggest tests of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship this season, looking to continue to make fortress Hollywoodbets Kings Park a tough place to visit.
The four South African teams will enter the weekend desperate to register victories as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship reaches boiling point with 15 of the 16 teams still in contention for playoff places with only five games left to book their quarter-final spots.
The Vodacom Bulls held their nerve in a nail-biting Vodacom United Rugby Championship semi-final against Leinster at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday for a 20-25 victory and watched on as the Glasgow Warriors defeated defending champions Munster at Thomond Park to earn their first home grand final in the competition in a regular season.
The Vodacom Bulls will have their sights set squarely on booking their second Vodacom United Rugby Championship grand final spot in three seasons when they host Leinster in the first semi-final at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Saturday afternoon, when they will fly the flag as the last remaining South African team in the cross-hemisphere showpiece.
The full Vodacom United Rugby Championship schedule for the 2024/25 campaign is now available thanks to the first-ever in-season launch of the following seasons’ fixtures.