Doris limps off after seven minutes but Leinster seal 10th URC title with 36-7 rout of Bulls

Caelan Doris was carried off with a foot injury after just seven minutes of the URC final on Saturday, but Leinster powered past the Bulls 36-7 at Croke Park to claim a record 10th United Rugby Championship title — and their second in succession.

The victory was a pointed response to last month’s Champions Cup final defeat to Bordeaux, with Leinster running in five tries in a commanding repeat of the 2024 URC showpiece. Sam Prendergast was named man of the match after contributing 11 points of his own alongside a series of sharp individual touches.

“Following a big disappointment a few weeks ago, very proud of the whole organisation and the way that we’ve been able to turn the page and have a special day,” Doris said after the match. “There was an unbelievable feeling from the start of the game — you could see the boys were on it physically and that went a long way. It was a full squad effort and it has been through the season.”

Doris had been passed fit to start despite carrying a knee problem, only for a separate foot issue to cut his afternoon short. The Ireland captain said his knee had held up but that something else gave way. “My foot got the better of me,” he confirmed in the post-match press conference, adding only “we’ll see” when asked whether he would be fit to join Andy Farrell’s Ireland squad for the inaugural Nations Championship tour to Australia next week.

Prendergast, meanwhile, was in no mood to understate the achievement. “No one’s won this trophy back to back — now we have, and that’s pretty special,” the fly-half said.

For Leinster, the afternoon erased the sting of their Bordeaux humiliation and underlined the province’s continued dominance of European club rugby. The concern now shifts to Doris, whose fitness will be assessed in the coming days ahead of Ireland’s southern-hemisphere trip.