Hooker Johan Grobbelaar and loose-forward Marcell Coetzee scored tries as South Africa’s Bulls stunned hosts Leinster to claim a 27-26 victory in their United Rugby Championship semi-final at the RDS Arena in Dublin on Friday.
The defeat compounds a miserable few weeks for Leinster, who lost the Champions Cup final in the dying seconds to La Rochelle, but were hot favourites to win a fifth successive URC title.
They will instead end the season without silverware for the first time since 2017, while the Bulls’ unexpected success is a maiden competitive victory for a South African club in Ireland.
The visitors also profited from a penalty try in the second half as their forward power led to an illegal sack at the maul from Leinster captain James Ryan, who received a yellow card.
The home side scored four tries through hooker Dan Sheehan, centre Robbie Henshaw, wing Rory O’Loughlin and prop Cian Healy, but were second best at the set piece, where the Bulls stole three of their attacking line-outs five yards from their own line.
The Pretoria-based Bulls will next play the winner of Saturday’s second semi-final in Cape Town where the Stormers welcome Ulster. The victor in that tie will host the June 18 final.
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