Friday Night Lights: The URC Grand Final Countdown

Leinster v Bulls is the rivalry that is defining the URC. North v South. Ireland v South Africa. Friday Night Lights will be shining bright on the 2025/26 URC Grand Final. Croke Park is going to be massive on the evening of 19th June.

Friday Night Lights: URC 2025/26 Grand Final Countdown

THE REMATCH OF THE URC’S DEFINING RIVALRY

Leinster and the Bulls meet in the first back-to-back URC Grand Final pairing in league history, with the Bulls leading the overall series, but Leinster kings of the one result when the title was the prize.

• This is the fourth knock-out clash between these giants of North and South since 2022, with the Bulls winning two Semi-Finals and Leinster winning the 2025 Grand Final.
• The Bulls have two Play-Off wins (2022 and ’24 SF) to Leinster’s one (GF ’25) in their knock-out meetings. The Bulls have won a semi-final in Dublin and Pretoria, but the only final, last season, was played in Dublin.
• Only two teams in the URC era hold a winning record against Leinster, and both are South African. The Bulls lead Leinster 5-3, while the DHL Stormers hold a 3-2-1 record.

2025 URC Grand Final Match-day 23s v 2026 semi-final match 23s

Leinster: 15 of last season’s final 23 played v Stormers.
Bulls: 13 of last season’s final 23 played v Glasgow. 11 of the starting XV from 2025 final started the 2026 semi-final.

Leinster

2025 URC final 23

Jimmy O’Brien, Tommy O’Brien, Garry Ringrose, Jordie Barrett, James Lowe, Sam Prendergast, Luke McGrath, Jack Conan, Josh van der Flier, Ryan Baird, James Ryan, Joe McCarthy, Thomas Clarkson, Dan Sheehan, Andrew Porter.
Bench: Rónan Kelleher, Jack Boyle, Rabah Slimani, RG Snyman, Max Deegan, Fintan Gunne, Ross Byrne, Jamie Osborne.

2026 URC semi-final v Stormers 23

Hugo Keenan, Jimmy O’Brien, Rieko Ioane, Jamie Osborne, James Lowe, Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park, Andrew Porter, Rónan Kelleher, Thomas Clarkson, Joe McCarthy, James Ryan, Max Deegan, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris.
Bench: Gus McCarthy, Alex Usanov, Rabah Slimani, Diarmuid Mangan, Jack Conan, Luke McGrath, Harry Byrne, Garry Ringrose.

Overlap: 15/23
Porter, Kelleher, Clarkson, Joe McCarthy, James Ryan, Deegan, Van der Flier, Conan, Luke McGrath, Prendergast, Lowe, Jimmy O’Brien, Ringrose, Osborne, Slimani.

Bulls

2025 URC final 23

Willie le Roux, Canan Moodie, David Kriel, Harold Vorster, Sebastian de Klerk, Johan Goosen, Embrose Papier, Marcell Coetzee, Ruan Nortjé, Marco van Staden, JF van Heerden, Cobus Wiese, Wilco Louw, Johan Grobbelaar, Jan-Hendrik Wessels.
Bench: Akker van der Merwe, Alulutho Tshakweni, Mornay Smith, Jannes Kirsten, Nizaam Carr, Zak Burger, Keagan Johannes, Devon Williams.

2026 URC semi-final v Glasgow 23

Willie le Roux, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Canan Moodie, Harold Vorster, Stravino Jacobs, Handré Pollard, Embrose Papier, Cameron Hanekom, Elrigh Louw, Marcell Coetzee, Ruan Nortjé, Ruan Vermaak, Francois Klopper, Johan Grobbelaar, Gerhard Steenekamp.
Bench: Marco van Staden, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Wilco Louw, Cobus Wiese, Jeandre Rudolph, Zak Burger, Stedman Gans, Nizaam Carr.

Overlap: 13/23
Le Roux, Moodie, Vorster, Papier, Coetzee, Nortjé, Van Staden, Wiese, Wilco Louw, Grobbelaar, Wessels, Zak Burger, Nizaam Carr.

TEST MATCH RUGBY IN CLUB COLOURS

For intensity and player quality, this is a Test match.

There is a staggering level of test-level talent within both of these teams with the Semi-Finals match 23s including 37 internationals from South Africa and Ireland, a number of whom are World Cup winners and test-capped British and Irish Lions. Few club games in the world can ever match this level of player.

• The Bulls named 11 Springboks in their starting XV against Glasgow Warriors with a further five on the bench
• Willie le Roux, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Canan Moodie, Marco van Staden and Handré Pollard were all part of South Africa’s World Cup win in 2023
• Leinster named a starting XV including 14 Irish internationals and one All Black (Rieko Ioane) while 11 of their match-day 23 were part of the 2025 British & Irish Lions squad
• Of those 11 players, eight of them appeared in Test matches against Australia: Hugo Keenan, James Lowe, Jamison Gibson-Park, Andrew Porter, Rónan Kelleher, Joe McCarthy, James Ryan, Jack Conan

THESE TEAMS ARE THE STANDARD IN IRELAND, SOUTH AFRICA AND THE Vodacom URC

Leinster and the Vodacom Bulls are the leading teams on either side of the Vodacom URC’s Ireland v South Africa rivalry: Leinster have the best Irish record against South African teams, while the Bulls have the best South African record against Irish opposition.

• Leinster have the best Irish record against South African teams, both by wins (15 out 26) and win percentage (57.7%). They are the only Irish side above 55%.

• The Vodacom Bulls have the best South African record against Irish teams, and by a clear margin (15 wins out of 24 = 62.5%). They are the only South African side above 50% against Irish opposition

• The 2026 Grand Final brings together the URC era’s two strongest away performers, Leinster with the league’s best away win rate and the Vodacom Bulls as the only other team above 50%.

• Leinster’s home win percentage is 88.5 which is second best in the URC era to Glasgow (91.7%)

Individually, it also a showdown between former Springboks coach Jacques Nienaber, wearing Leinster Blue, and Bulls Coach Johan Ackermann.