Ken Borland

Madosh Tambwe had few opportunities to shine in the United Rugby Championship semi-final against Leinster, but he is determined to end his stint with the Bulls with a bang in the final on Saturday to pay back coach Jake White for his belief in him.

The 25-year-old has already played for a few clubs in his short career – spending three seasons at the Lions and one at the Sharks – but it is since joining the Bulls last year that he has developed into a genuine international-class wing. And on Tuesday he expressed his gratitude to White for that, as he will now be joining Bordeaux-Begles in France.

“Coach Jake has been tremendous,” Tambwe said. “He has challenged me in various ways and brings out the best in me, not just on the field but as a team guy.

“I have a great relationship with Jake and working with him has been the highlight of my career and hopefully I can finish my time with the Bulls on a high on Saturday.

“When I told Jake I was joining Bordeaux, he understood why I wanted to play in the Top 14 and the reasons behind it. Every good thing comes to an end, but I want to give back to him for uplifting my career.

“The one thing I can do is play out of my socks in the final to help give him and the team the win,” Tambwe said.

While Tambwe had a quiet semi-final against Leinster, he has certainly made his mark this season with his power and pace, and aerial ability on the wing. The battle of the back threes is going to be a fascinating contest within the final on Saturday because the Stormers wings and fullback have also excelled this season.

“When I moved here from the Sharks, Jake had Stravino Jacobs and Kurt-Lee Arendse as his wings and I had to work on having a point of difference, putting effort into my craft and my qualities.

“I help bring extra speed to the attack, retrieving the high ball and getting position back because that is the way rugby is moving. You need to relieve pressure in your half and put it on the opposition.

“It puts a smile on my face when a team like Leinster makes sure they don’t give me any space because that means I’m doing something right.

“And you have to credit the Stormers back three as well, they have played really well, they are great players. But it all comes down to Saturday and we’ll approach them like every other dangerous back three – if we close down their space then we will be in good hands,” Tambwe said.

Bulls coach Jake White spent most of the last week emphasising how important a good start would be for his underdog team against the fast-starting Leinster side in their United Rugby Championship semi-final in Dublin.

So when the Bulls almost immediately conceded a soft offsides penalty and hot favourites Leinster were straight on to their goal-line, bashing away, one would imagine White would have been angry. But what followed was 11 phases of brilliant, brave defence that kept Leinster out. It would arguably be the making of the Bulls side and their stunning 27-26 win, the scoreline flattering Leinster because they scored after the final hooter.

“A lot has been said about Leinster, but they generally start well,” White said after what he rated as one of his most memorable wins as a coach. “We were forced to defend for the first couple of minutes.

“But then we managed to kick downfield and that changed the momentum of the game. Leinster were shown to be human, they normally don’t make silly mistakes, but they had one or two moments.

“In a one-point game, that makes the difference. It was never fait accompli against them, you have never done enough to keep them out. I’m happy they didn’t start like they ended with that last phase.

“This has got to be up there for me in terms of wins, Leinster have been the dominant force in European rugby, but our team has learnt what they need to do against international players,” White said.

The Bulls pack produced the sort of proud, combative, massively powerful display that inspires songs to be written about them and, in Dublin, it would probably be translated as the Bulls eateth not off the floor.

But White was also pleased his team showed some wonderful touches on attack.

“The Bulls have always historically had good forward play, but I really enjoyed the interplay between backs and forwards, especially in the first half.

“But the key against Leinster is to not give them set-piece, and we turned the ball over in a couple of key late lineouts, and our physicality on the gainline caused them to have a couple of knock-ons, which they don’t generally do.

“It was obviously a great win for us, but a couple of things did work in our favour, like the weather turning bad at one stage.

“But this whole group has grown significantly and the one thing we have got right is to play our best rugby in the knockout stages. I hope we continue to play with that intensity, composure and confidence,” White said ahead of this weekend’s final against the Stormers in Cape Town.

A magnificent performance by the Bulls saw them break the stranglehold of Leinster on the Celtic league as they stunned the European powerhouses 27-26 in their United Rugby Championship semifinal in Dublin on Friday night.

For the first time since 2017, Leinster’s usually bulging trophy cabinet will be empty and it will be the Bulls who advance to the URC final following a display for the ages in which they showed massive physicality and some marvellous attacking touches.

Having spent the week talking about how much they admire Leinster, who won the URC’s predecessor, the Pro14 for the last four years, the Bulls showed they were up for a fight from the start with mighty defence keeping Leinster out for 11 phases on their tryline.

Leinster did take the early lead through hooker Dan Sheehan’s try after a Ross Byrne grubber through caused chaos, and the Bulls struggled initially against some marginal refereeing calls that went the way of the home side.

But hooker Johan Grobbelaar’s masterful work at the breakdowns and eighthman Elrigh Louw’s massive carries sparked the Bulls and in 10 magical minutes in the second quarter they scored two tries to take a grip on the game.

Following a Grobbelaar turnover, Louw put in two great runs to put the Bulls on the front foot. The chance seemed wasted when fullback Canan Moodie, who had looked dangerous with ball-in-hand, tried to dot down with one hand and dropped the ball. Fortunately the Bulls had advantage and the tap-and-go penalty brought a marvellous moment of deception as Louw carried but then flipped the ball to Grobbelaar running the other way and he forced himself over for the try.

Then the Bulls attacked from deep through Moodie and Vorster, winning a ruck penalty. Chris Smit put the ball in the corner, Louw charged off the back of the lineout, and then made a strong carry from a ruck, before Marcell Coetzee went over for the try.

Leinster were down 7-17 but fought back through a try by midfield maestro Robbie Henshaw to trail 14-17 at halftime.

The pressure only mounted on the home side as the Bulls dominated the opening exchanges of the second half, only some streetwise tactics at the ruck preventing a try being scored. Leinster cleared their lines but conceded a scrum penalty. It had been the one area of the game where the Bulls had previously suffered much misfortune.

What followed was a terrible, decisive blow against Leinster. A massive rolling maul thundered to their line from 25 metres out, the referee going straight to a penalty try and yellow-carding lock and captain James Ryan.

The Bulls led 24-14 and then withstood fierce pressure from Leinster in their 22, stealing a couple of crunch lineouts five metres from their line.

Leinster did score a long-range try, wing Rory O’Laughlin rounding off a Jordan Larmour break, but veterans Morne Steyn, with a penalty, and Bismarck du Plessis, with a key turnover, sealed a shock defeat for the hosts.

Scorers

Leinster – Tries: Dan Sheehan, Robbie Henshaw, Rory O’Laughlin, Cian Healy. Conversions: Ross Byrne (2), Johnny Sexton.

Bulls – Tries: Johan Grobbelaar, Marcell Coetzee, penalty try. Conversions: Chris Smith (2). Penalties: Smith, Morne Steyn.

There is no doubt the Bulls players and management crave the sort of pedigree and success in European rugby that Leinster enjoy, and coach Jake White is hoping upsetting the Irish giants in their United Rugby Championship semi-final in Dublin on Friday is the first step on that path.

Leinster have won the European Champions Cup four times, second only to Toulouse (5), and the Pro14 competition (the URC’s predecessor) eight times including the last four tournaments in a row. They also topped the final URC log by six points.

But while it’s obvious how much White respects Leinster, it’s also one of the great joys of sport that hot favourites are sometimes upset by the underdogs in knockout matches. It’s those games the fans live for, and the former World Cup winning coach is hoping Friday night is one of those days for the Bulls.

“Leinster are an incredible team, to put it in perspective, Sean Cronin, their reserve hooker, has played 206 games for them and Jonny Sexton has played 183. Together they have probably played more matches than our entire squad and they are both on the bench.

“We all want to become like Leinster in terms of our structures and we have massive respect for them. Who else has players like Cronin, Sexton, Cian Healy and Ciaran Frawley on the bench?

“Leinster used 60 players in this season’s URC, which is 16 more than us. Those learnings mean you will be so much better next year and after that. For us it’s about building a team over the next couple of years so we can be one of the strongest clubs in world rugby.

“But people follow sport because there’s always a chance, the players believe they can do it and I want them to give it a real crack. We’ve got confidence that on our day we can win,” White said.

For the upset to happen though, it’s going to be crucial for the Bulls to absorb the early blows Leinster, at their formidable RDS Arena, are going to rain down on them.

“We have to start well, Leinster score most of their points in the first 25 minutes,” White said. “It’s very difficult to play catch-up against them, especially at their home ground.

“La Rochelle stayed in the game well in the Champions Cup final a fortnight ago, but the last time we were here, we looked again and we were 15 points down.

“But it will be different this time because we won’t be overawed, we are more controlled now and we have more settled combinations.”

Having bished-and-bashed their way into the last four, there is no pressure on the Bulls, and whatever they get out of Friday night’s game will be a bonus.

“I think we have surpassed everything we were meant to do already,” White said after naming an unchanged starting XV on Thursday. “Now we see if we can live with the best standard of European clubs.”

Bulls: Canan Moodie, David Kriel, Cornal Hendricks, Harold Vorster, Madosh Tambwe, Chris Smith, Zak Burger; Elrigh Louw, Arno Botha, Marcell Coetzee, Ruan Nortje, Walt Steenkamp, Mornay Smith, Johan Grobbelaar, Gerhard Steenekamp. Replacements -Bismarck du Plessis, Simphiwe Matanzima, Robert Hunt, Janko Swanepoel, WJ Steenkamp; Embrose Papier, Morne Steyn, Kurt-Lee Arendse.