Leinster edged out by Bulls in URC semi-final

United Rugby Championship quarter-final

Bulls: (10) 25

Tries: Goosen, Petersen (2) Pen: Goosen (2) Con: Goosen (2)

Leinster: (7) 20

Tries: Lowe, Doris Cons: Byrne (2) Pen: Byrne

Leinster were narrowly beat 25-20 by Bulls at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium in their United Rugby Championship [URC] semi-final.

Leo Cullen's side trailed 10-7 after a scrappy first half, with Johan Goosen cancelling out James Lowe's opening try.

Seargal Petersen scored two tries in between a Caelan Doris try as the hosts survived late Leinster pressure to win a bruising encounter.

They will meet the winner of the other semi-final between Munster and Glasgow in the decider on Saturday 22 June.

Leinster have now gone three seasons since their last trophy win.

Many of Leinster's squad had not played a game in South Africa before the game in Pretoria, and they took some time to get up to speed in the searing heat.

After a tense first 15 minutes, the Bulls began to assert their dominance and the game burst into life when Devon Williams had a try disallowed by the TMO.

Williams raced over in the corner after being found by a great pass from Willie Le Roux, but it was soon chalked off after a needless foul by Marko Van Staden on Ross Byrne in the build-up.

It was a let-off for Leinster, who then squandered a good chance to take the lead at the other end as Byrne was wayward from the tee with his penalty.

Leo Cullen's side took advantage of Sergeal Petersen being sent to the sin-bin for 10 minutes for a deliberate knock-on.

After a strong maul, Byrne found Lowe out wide with an unorthodox pass and he touched down for the first try of the game.

Byrne then made amends for his penalty miss by nailing his conversion.

Their lead would last just six minutes however, with Bulls' pressure eventually resulting in a try.

Goosen darted through Leinster's defensive line and dotted down before he kicked the conversion to bring the hosts level.

A late penalty from Goosen after Leinster's scrum caved in, sent Bulls in at the break leading.

Leinster have tended to save their good performances for second halves of games, but it was Bulls who would come flying out of the traps as they extended their lead soon after the restart.

A swift move resulted in kicking forward to the onrushing Petersen with the ball bouncing nicely for him to touch down.

Goosen was spot on from the tee to stretch their advantage to 10 points.

Leinster refused to lie down however and found a route back into the game with a try on 50 minutes.

After a number of attempts to cross the line were repelled, they won a penalty and opted to tap and go and were rewarded for their patience.

Caelan Doris crashed over with Byrne kicking the conversion to bring it back to a three-point game.

Byrne converted a penalty to bring Leinster level and set up an intriguing end to the game.

Goosen and Byrne exchanged penalties as the two teams became reliant on the accurate kicking of their two 10s as the clock ticked towards the red.

Petersen produced a moment of individual quality for Bulls' third try, beating Ciaran Frawley to a high box kick, evading a challenge and slamming down.

Goosen was uncharacteristically off-target from the tee.

Leinster piled on some late pressure, with one move including 22 phases, but they were unable to break down a stubborn Bulls defence who held on for victory.