Vodacom Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White said both teams' disappointments in the play-offs will not have any impact on the 2025 United Rugby Championship Final hosted at Croke Park on Saturday at 18:00 (SA Time).
"People look into so many things. This team's losses in the semis, this team loses the finals. This team has so many Irish players. That is irrelevant. It's different teams, different venues and different times of the year, history means nothing," White said.
"Playing in three finals shows that this group is good enough, but I’ve been around long enough to know that there’s not a service award. You don’t get to win trophies just because you play in the finals. People think if this is your third final, then this is the one you win. But you can play in 10 finals and never win one. There is no right to win these games."
"This group of players have probably far exceeded expectations of anybody in the last four years. We’ve made three finals, and the average age of our team over the last four years has been the youngest of most teams in the competition."
"I am not saying that we are not aware that we’ve had three finals, but we are also very aware that we have exceeded what everyone has expected, and we have probably batted above our weight for a long time."
"Hopefully, this game will be the one where we will learn from the two other opportunities we had to win this competition. To get over the line would be incredible for us, a massive achievement, especially for this group who I still don’t think are where they could be."