How Bulls can curb free-running Leinster: A finger-lickin' good recipe, stopping them at source

One of the riddles of the United Rugby Championship (URC) is defending successfully against the competition's serial table-toppers, Leinster.

The first two campaigns of the new era of the competition formerly known as the Pro14 have come with an inexplicable semi-final jinx for the Dublin-based club, with the Bulls and fellow Irish team Munster shocking a team which had won four ProRugby finals in a row in the semis in successive years.

This was after seasons in which a combination of insane tempo, a piggy-in-the-middle dedication to keeping possession, and that unerring carousel of a passing game helped them breeze through the round-robin stages by winning 13 of their 18 league games in the 2021-22 season, and 16 of their complement of 18 the next season.