Jake White reflects on "horror movie" as Leinster dominate Bulls in URC final

The stage was set for a thrilling affair at Croke Park in Dublin as Leinster hosted the Bulls in the URC final on Saturday night. But there was only one team on show. The Irish giants were superb from the first whistle, running out to a 19-0 lead after 23 minutes.

The visitors managed to score a try early in the second stanza, but the one-way traffic resumed shortly after as Leinster marched to a comfortable 32-7 win.

"We got the 40 minutes the Leinster supporters were waiting for the whole season," said White.

"It was like watching a horror movie, and you hope the ending will be different. This was Test-level rugby. It was like everything was played in fast forward.

"It's just a different league altogether, and that's why Leinster supporters are probably so disappointed. Because they were waiting for that performance the whole year, and we just happened to get the 40 minutes that they were waiting for the whole year. We couldn't get our hands on the ball."

White congratulated his fellow World Cup-winning coach Jacques Nienaber on Leinster's relentless defence, which forced the Bulls into many errors.

"Credit to Jacques and the defence," he added.

"We were a little bit one-off instead of running with numbers, people around the ball, but that's what happens when you're under the pump against a good team. You have to give credit where credit's due. Out of the three finals, this is by far the toughest final we've had. Make no bones about it, they've gone another level up."

White says the Bulls need to field more international stars. Players coming to Pretoria next season include Bok iceman Handre Pollard, centre Jan Serfontein and Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg.

"The lesson I've taken from that is we need more international players to play in our province," he continued.

"I need what Leinster has. I need to be able to fight fire with fire. Leinster, Toulouse, La Rochelle, what do you need to win those games? Academy players or seasoned internationals?

"I keep banging the same drum. I've coached some of the best players in the world, players who have won player of the year twice. If you're playing against 23 internationals, I think today Leinster were short with only 22, there is a complete difference."

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