Akin to the Champions Cup, the URC may have been landed with a final that the competition badly needed and helped to give its competition some sustenance, particularly in Ireland.
On foot of having more reboots than the most dilapidated laptop, one of the URC’s biggest challenges has been in both maintaining and developing supporter interest across 16 competing teams in five different countries. It hasn’t been an easy sell.
Ironically, although they are the newest additions, the South African franchises and their public appear to have a bigger buy-in than their northern hemisphere counterparts, including the Irish provinces, where the URC is a poor relation to the adored and much coveted Champions Cup which is now entering its fourth decade.
The URC also has nothing like the history or tradition of the Premiership in England, much less the French Championship, nor the advantages and simplicity of a competition being held within the boundaries of one country.
Not the least of these advantages is being able to set a date in stone for a final a year or more in advance, something the EPCR can also do. Given the risk of having an all-Celtic final in South Africa or an all-South African final in, say, Dublin, at a week’s notice that is not an option for the URC.
Next season, the URC will have a two-week gap between the semi-final and final, which is the best case scenario and will at least allow double the time to sell tickets for the competition’s blue riband day.
True, both Munster and Glasgow defied the long-haul travel at short notice to win the last two Grand Finals in Cape Town and Pretoria. But as well as being the first final in Croke Park, it’s the first outside South Africa in the four years since the competition was expanded to include their four franchises. Considering tickets have only been on sale for six days, for more than 42,000 to have been sold by Friday is actually quite an achievement.
The organisers are hoping to beat the previous Irish best of 46,092 for the Leinster-Scarlets Grand Final of 2018, when they had nine months to sell those tickets. It’s just a pity that this attendance might seem a little more lost, and leave many more empty spaces, in the iconic home of the GAA.
It’s remarkable to think that Leinster’s 2020 and 2021 Pro14 finals were won behind closed doors, while the 2019 title was claimed in Glasgow. Hence the aforementioned 2018 win over Scarlets is the last time Leinster lifted a trophy in front of their own fans.
That’s extraordinary really, and perhaps Leinster’s first URC final in four attempts and that long gap since last lifting a trophy in front of their own living, breathing, cheering supporters has helped to galvanise interest for this seasonal finale.
There was a distinct impression that the much-reduced attendances for Leinster’s last four games since the Northampton defeat were a reflection of their fans’ disgruntlement with that semi-final. But perhaps the magnitude of this Grand Final has hit home, as well as the realisation that this would be hugely meaningful silverware on several levels.
In addition to being high achieving organisations with well stacked trophy cabinets, Leinster and the Stormers have each endured a relatively barren spell which should have them feeling voracious for an overdue piece of silverware. These finalists are giants with an appetite.
Since the last of their eight Celtic/Magners League/Pro12/14 titles in 2021, Leinster have endured three semi-final defeats on foot of the South African franchises joining the URC, as well as three defeats in Champions Cup finals and, of course, that crushing semi-final loss to Northampton.
Likewise, the Bulls are seeking to avoid a fourth trophyless year in a row. Since the last of their 25 Currie Cup triumphs in 2021, the Pretoria-based side lost the 2022 and 2024 URC finals away to the Stormers and at home to Glasgow either side of a quarter-final loss to the Stormers.
It tells us much that the Bulls have played knock-out matches in near 50,000-full houses in Loftus Versfeld and that their much-decorated head coach Jake White unhesitatingly put the possibility of the Bulls winning a first URC title alongside their three Super Rugby triumphs in 2007, ’09 and ’10.
The URC bar is rising. In years to come, the benefits of the South Africans coming aboard will be felt in Irish rugby. Ominously, three of the South African quartet finished in the top five. Of the other Irish sides, Munster barely made the top eight and neither Connacht nor Ulster did so.
Winning this final would be end Leinster’s wait for silverware and ensure less collateral damage moving into next season. But let’s park that fifth star for a weekend. Were Leinster to win their ninth title in this competition’s many iterations, but their first URC triumph per se, it would be the best of them all. By some distance.
