Defending champions Leinster arrive in Pretoria under pressure, with key players sidelined and the Vodacom Bulls out for payback at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

Leinster are reeling from a 35-5 thrashing by the Stormers in Cape Town. To make matters worse, Jordan Larmour (foot), Jamie Osborne (hamstring) and Cormac Foley (calf) all picked up knocks, while Caelan Doris, Joe McCarthy and Hugo Keenan remain unavailable.

It leaves the Irish giants facing a bruising round-two clash against Johan Ackermann’s Bulls, who opened their Vodacom URC campaign with a 53-40 win against the Ospreys at Loftus.

The clash is also a repeat of last season’s final, where Leinster dominated 32-7 in Dublin.

Forwards coach Robin McBryde admitted the loss in Cape Town had stung.

“There has been a lot of soul-searching since last Friday,” he told reporters. “We can’t dwell on it, because we have a big challenge facing us on Saturday. It doesn’t come much tougher than the Bulls, one of the most consistent teams in the URC.”

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McBryde expects the Bulls to bring extra fire given what happened in last season’s Dublin decider, won 32-7 by Leinster.

“There is the added factor from the final, so they will have an avenging mindset. Hopefully, we can stand up to it.”

The former Wales hooker also shouldered responsibility for his pack’s struggles at the set piece.

“I obviously didn’t prepare them well enough to stand up to the test last Friday. We have an opportunity to go again and hopefully give a better account of ourselves.”

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