It’s almost a year later, but the hurt that the Bulls felt in losing last season’s United Rugby Championship final at Loftus Versfeld is still being felt.
And they hope to erase those nightmares this Friday when they tackle defending champions Glasgow at Scotstoun Stadium (8.35pm kick-off).
Coach Franco Smith’s band of Warriors pulled off the unthinkable when they went to Pretoria and beat the Bulls 21-16 in an epic title decider last June.
And what made the triumph even more remarkable was the fact that Glasgow had won an away semi-final 17-10 over Munster in Limerick a week earlier, and then travelled to South Africa to hold off the Bulls.
Jake White’s team had looked well on course to claim their first URC title as they took a 13-0 first-half lead, and then stretched it to 16-7 early in the second stanza.
But the Scottish club clawed their way back for a 21-16 advantage, and despite a late onslaught from the hosts in the final quarter, the visitors displayed tremendous tenacity on defence to grab the trophy.
This time around the Bulls are the away team, and they have a lot to play for as a win over Glasgow will see them possibly move to second spot on the log.
White’s team are on 54 points following the past weekend’s historic 16-13 win over Munster in Limerick, while Glasgow moved up to 58 after a hard-fought 14-6 victory over Zebre in Parma.
With three league matches to go before the quarter-finals, it’s all about finishing as high as possible to secure home playoffs.
“I’m going to tell you something. Nothing today would have changed the importance of next week’s game,” White said after the Munster game.
“I can tell you that post the final, everyone wrote on their wall, 25 April 2025, because we lost the final and we always knew that the next time we play against them was going to be an opportunity for us to make sure we play as well as we can because we missed an opportunity.
“So, yeah, it’s nice to go with momentum and it’s nice to go with a positiveness.
“But I can promise you from the day we started pre-season, the 25th of April was always going to be the game that we were going to go hard for.”
White hailed his team for their performance against Munster, where they were well on top in the first half, but could only be level at 10-10 at halftime.
Their forwards played with greater intensity and physicality than was the case in last week’s Edinburgh Challenge Cup quarter-final defeat.
Flank Marcell Coetzee led the way with an incredible 31 tackles, nine carries and the only Bulls try to be the deserved Player of the Match.
Marcell Coetzee powers over for the Vodacom Bulls 🐂💥
📺 Stream #VURC on DStv: https://t.co/0P0NNhnwKw pic.twitter.com/vnaRK5cWtS
Star No 8 Cameron Hanekom wasn’t far behind either as he carried with much more conviction on attack and never stopped tackling and contesting the breakdowns.
Halfbacks Embrose Papier and Johan Goosen managed the game with aplomb with their kicking game, with Canan Moodie contesting the aerial bombs in trademark fashion.
It was a thrilling end to the game as the Bulls went 16-13 ahead with a brilliant Keagan Johannes penalty, but then they kicked the ball straight into touch twice.
The kick that won the match ☑️
— BKT United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial) April 19, 2025
Pure perfection from the tee 🤌#BKTURC #URC | #MUNvBUL pic.twitter.com/suNDsRpX1w
They had to defend 20 phases from Munster before forcing a knock-on just outside their 22 following a Sebastian de Klerk tackle to clinch the first ever victory by a SA team at Thomond Park.
“I wish I could answer that (what the difference was from the Edinburgh match), because that is that again is what I said to them is why we can’t do that every single week,” an exasperated White said.
“Same intensity, same accuracy... and that is every good team. I think any team that’s ever coached is always trying to find the perfect performance every Saturday.
“And if we just video that last block of defence and we play that to them for the next six months, and then challenge them as to whether we can turn that four minutes into 80 minutes in terms of back-to-back group efforts and back-to-back defensive sets...
“And I can’t answer why it would be different this week to last week. Last week was a quarter-final.
“We were up for it. We really wanted to go through to the next round. I can’t question the fact that they therefore went in with any less intent or any less preparation or any less desire to do well.
“So, I’m just glad that there was a reaction from last week’s loss, because there was obviously a lot at stake last week to get a semi-final place in a competition.
An incredible achievement: Our team have achieved the Irish Grand Slam, we’ve beaten all 4 Irish provinces this season in the URC!! Don’t believe this has ever happened before!🏉 pic.twitter.com/aL8R7MnaAh
“And there’s no better way for a coach than when you get a result against Munster away from home, because that can only help you with your preparation and with your mental approach going into a game where you’re playing against the champions of URC last year (Glasgow).”
Points-Scorers
Munster 13 – Try: Thaakir Abrahams. Conversion: Jack Crowley (1). Penalties: Crowley (2).
Bulls 16 – Try: Marcell Coetzee. Conversion: Johan Goosen (1). Penalties: Goosen (2), Keagan Johannes (1).