URC Grand Final: Leinster 36 Bulls 7So much for this appearing to be an altogether tougher final than a year ago. Instead, Leinster earned back-to-back URC titles at a time when the competition has never been harder to win. What’s more, they did so even more emphatically by eclipsing that 32-7 victory, so achieving a record margin for a final. For virtually everyone in the 39,184 crowd on a balmy but wet night in GAA headquarters, this was a fitting way to say farewell to James Lowe, Luke McGrath and Jerry Cahir. No less than the players, the supporters enthusiastically also bought into Leinster’s defensive sets.Clinical in locating and exposing the Stormers wide out, Leinster generated rapidly quick ruck ball and also had much the better kicking game and once again upset the Bulls’ lineout rhythms.They had the game’s master string puller and man of the match in Sam Prendergast on what was a redemptory night for him and this team. Huge displays abounded, not least Max Deegan and Josh van der Flier, and it was indicative of them being at their well-oiled selves that Jack Conan and Garry Ringrose, Rieko Ioane moving to the right wing, slipped seamlessly into the system.The only blemishes were Caelan Doris and Tommy Obien being forced off but the former revealed his departure was not due to a recurrence of his knee issue. He lifted the trophy with Lowe, with his two kids on stage, and Leinster’s celebratory lap for their fans was entirely deserved.As with almost all their best days or nights, Leinster flew out of the blocks and led from the front. The game was only 82 seconds old when Moodie set the tone for his display when binned for flapping down Prendergast’s intended pass for Joe McCarthy on the touchline.Leinster’s Sam Prendergast takes a stray boot to the face. Photograph: INPHO/Dan Sheridan Whereupon Leinster’s Jacques Nienaber defence drew two early lines in the sand. Quick line speed to defend in the eyes of the Bulls’ players assuredly contributed to Handre Pollard taking his eye off the ball as it slipped through his fingers. Tommy O’Brien hacked on, gathered a favourable bounce, was sharply on to the ball and a kind bounce from his kick ensured an easy run-in.Then, when the Bulls went to the corner and went through the phases, they were continuously driven back and repelled, and a loud roar greeted Lowe’s booming 45 metre touchfinder before Leinster struck again.Jamison Gibson-Park was the instigator with a quick throw to Prendergast for Hugo Keenan to call for the ball. He glided past Marcell Coetzee and benefited from Moodie slipping to break clear and feed Rieko Ioane, who stepped inside Kurt-Lee Arendse before taking the tackle of Harold Vorster for a strong finish. He enjoyed it too.When the Bulls flickered into life by working Stravino Jacobs into space for him to have a kick and chase, with Moodie alongside him, Prendergast accelerated and made a brave sliding gather to prevent a try.His skip pass to O’Brien had Leinster asking questions again before Jack Conan made a lovely break off before Ronan Kelleher’s short pass on the gain line, Gibson-Park hacking on for Willie le Roux to concede a five-metre scrum.Although Kelleher was held up over the line by Ruan Nortje, soon Keenan chased and claimed a Prendergast bomb deep inside the Bulls 22 above Moodie, who was rooted to the ground. Le Roux was binned for his one-handed knock-down of Keenan’s pass to O’Brien.After O’Brien was launched off the ensuing scrum, Leinster finally made a power play count when Conan drove low and reached out for the line. Again identifying space in the outer channels of the Bulls’ defence, Gibson-Park was probably prompted to eschew a box kick and instead pass long to Jamie Osborne by Prendergast, who was sweeping behind, took the ensuing pull back, broke away and executed a grubbered 50-22 on the run. High class.He made it 22-0 with a penalty, and although the Bulls had recovered from a 21-3 deficit away to Glasgow in the semi-finals, that was kick-started by a try before half-time, whereas here Pollard ended an abject Bulls’ first-half display by kicking a penalty the wrong side of the corner flag.Soon after the resumption Jerry Cahir and co locked a Leinster scrum for Gibson-Park to grubber a 40 metre touchfinder on the blindside. Even better, after Ringrose reclaimed a Prendergast chip inside the Bulls 22, Leinster went into overdrive. With a penalty advantage, Prendergast slipping a no-look ball to Osborne and thanks to Lowe’s clear-out the outhalf then had the presence of mind to pick up and score one-handed. Johan Ackermann turned to his Bomb Squad and the Bulls upped their intensity and finally found a familiar groove.Van der Flier, with a little help from Joe McCarthy, held up the ball over the line although Harold Vorster was convinced he had scored. Although the review did not go his way he did seem to have a case.But after Lowe became the third player to be binned for a deliberate knock-on from a penalty to the corner and a catch-and-drive, Moodie steamed on to Embrose Papier’s pass to burst between Gibson-Park and Prendergast – a relatively soft try that was totally out of keeping with their defensive performance.Leinster’s Rieko Ioane scores their second try.