The 2024 United Rugby Championship Grand Final was the final match of the 2023–24 United Rugby Championship (URC) season. It was contested by the Bulls from South Africa and Scotland's Glasgow Warriors. Glasgow won the match 21–16, coming back from 13–0 down just before half-time to claim their second URC title.
The final was held in South Africa for the third time in succession, with a second appearance for the Bulls following their defeat in 2022, and a first appearance for Glasgow Warriors who are the first Scottish team, and the first team outside of South Africa and Ireland, to reach the final since the competition adopted its current format. For the third year in succession, the top-seeded team at the start of the play-offs failed to reach the final.
Route to the final
Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first (H: home; A: away). BullsRound Glasgow WarriorsLeaguePosTeamPWDLPFPAPDTFTAPts 1 Munster 18 13 1 4 483 318 +165 65 38 11 3 68 2 Bulls 18 13 0 5 639 433 +206 85 54 11 3 66 3 Leinster 18 13 0 5 554 350 +204 81 43 11 2 65 4 Glasgow Warriors 18 13 0 5 519 353 +166 76 35 11 2 65 5 Stormers 18 12 0 6 468 348 +120 58 45 7 4 59 6 Ulster 18 11 0 7 437 409 +28 53 55 5 5 54 7 Benetton 18 11 1 6 411 400 +11 51 56 6 2 54 8 Ospreys 18 10 0 8 414 449 –35 53 53 8 2 50OpponentResultPlay-offsOpponentResult Benetton (H)30–23Quarter-finals Stormers (H)27–10 Leinster (H)25–20Semi-finals Munster (A)17–10
Match Venue
With Glasgow's elimination of top-ranked Munster in the semi-finals, the Bulls were the highest-ranked team to reach the final; they nominated their usual home of Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria, which has a listed capacity of 50,000, as the venue for the final. It was the third year in a row that the final had been played in South Africa, but the first time it had been played at Loftus Versfeld, although the stadium had previously hosted the 2009 Super 14 final, in which the Bulls beat the Chiefs 61–17.
Officials Italian referee Andrea Piardi was named as the main official for the match, taking charge of his second United Rugby Championship final in succession. He made his Six Nations Championship debut in 2024, refereeing the game between Ireland and Wales, and was also part of the refereeing team for the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France. His assistants for the final were Ireland's Frank Murphy and Wales's Craig Evans, while fellow Italian Matteo Liperini served as the Television Match Official (TMO).
Team selection The two teams named their squads for the final the day before the match. The Bulls made just one change to the team that beat Leinster in the semi-final, bringing in Kurt-Lee Arendse for Willie le Roux, who had failed a head injury assessment (HIA) after the Leinster match; Devon Williams moved across to full-back in place of Le Roux, while Arendse, who had undergone cheekbone surgery after the quarter-final against Benetton two weeks earlier, took Williams' place on the wing. On the bench, Zak Burger came in for Keagan Johannes as the replacement scrum-half. Glasgow named the same starting XV as in their semi-final, but made two changes on the bench as prop Nathan McBeth and fly-half Duncan Weir came in for Murphy Walker and Ross Thompson respectively. They were forced into one more change before kick-off as lock Max Williamson failed to recover from an illness and was replaced by Gregor Brown.
Summary The Bulls took an early lead in the match when Johan Goosen kicked a second-minute penalty from near the right touchline between the halfway line and the Glasgow 10-metre line. Goosen added another penalty in the 15th minute, before the Bulls scored the game's opening try 10 minutes later; following a line-out, the Glasgow defence failed to tackle Marco van Staden as he peeled off the back of a maul and he powered over from 10 metres out; Goosen kicked the conversion. As the first half drew to a close, Glasgow managed to reduce the deficit to 13–7 as Scott Cummings burrowed over the line from short range following a nine-phase attack, before George Horne converted.
Six minutes after the break, Goosen extended the Bulls' lead to nine points with another penalty, but just two minutes later, Glasgow reduced it down to two points as replacement hooker George Turner finished off a driving maul, and Horne again kicked the conversion. Just after the hour mark, the Glasgow backs took over, going wing-to-wing to allow Kyle Steyn to put Huw Jones over on the left flank; Horne again converted to put Glasgow in front for the first time in the game. They thought they had extended their lead five minutes later, when Jack Dempsey thought he had scored a 60-metre interception try, only for the Television Match Official to bring it back for an early tackle by Turner. Inside the last five minutes, Glasgow were reduced to 14 men after Tom Jordan was yellow-carded for a high tackle, and as the clock turned red, the Bulls attempted to drive over from a five-metre line-out. However, despite their numerical disadvantage, the Warriors were able to prevent the score. This secured a 21–16 victory for the Warriors, giving them their second URC title having won the competition in 2015 when it still known as the Pro12.
Details
FB 15 Devon WilliamsRW 14 Sergeal PetersenOC 13 David KrielIC 12 Harold VorsterLW 11 Kurt-Lee ArendseFH 10 Johan GoosenSH 9 Embrose PapierN8 8 Cameron Hanekom OF 7 Elrigh LouwBF 6 Marco van StadenRL 5 Ruan NortjéLL 4 Ruan Vermaak TP 3 Wilco Louw HK 2 Johan Grobbelaar LP 1 Gerhard Steenekamp Substitutions:HK 16 Akker van der Merwe PR 17 Simphiwe Matanzima PR 18 Francois Klopper LK 19 Reinhardt Ludwig FL 20 Nizaam Carr SH 21 Zak BurgerFH 22 Chris SmithCE 23 Cornel SmitCoach: Jake White FB 15 Josh McKayRW 14 Sebastián Cancelliere OC 13 Huw JonesIC 12 Sione TuipulotuLW 11 Kyle SteynFH 10 Tom Jordan SH 9 George HorneN8 8 Jack DempseyOF 7 Rory Darge BF 6 Matt FagersonRL 5 Richie Gray LL 4 Scott CummingsTP 3 Zander FagersonHK 2 Johnny Matthews LP 1 Jamie Bhatti Substitutions:HK 16 George Turner PR 17 Nathan McBeth PR 18 Oli KebbleLK 19 Gregor Brown FL 20 Euan FerrieFL 21 Henco Venter SH 22 Jamie Dobie FH 23 Duncan WeirCoach: Franco Smith Man of the Match: Matt Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors)
Assistant referees: Frank Murphy (Ireland) Craig Evans (Wales) Television match official: Matteo Liperini (Italy)
Statistics Statistic Bulls Glasgow Warriors Tries 1 3 Possession 51% 49% Clean breaks 3 8 Defenders beaten 14 41 Offloads 14 4 Territory 46% 54% Tackles 176 180 Missed tackles 41 14 Tackle success 81% 93% Turnovers won 8 8 Penalties conceded 10 17 Kicks retained 2 1 Source: URC
Broadcasting The match was shown live by SuperSport in South Africa, by Premier Sports in the United Kingdom and by RTÉ in Ireland.
References