DHL Stormers vs Vodacom Bulls
The Official Matchday Programme for the United Rugby Champions Grand Final DHL Stormers vs Vodacom Bulls | URC Saturday 18th June, 2022 | Kick off 6.30pm | DHL Stadium
The Official Matchday Programme for the United Rugby Champions Grand Final
DHL Stormers vs Vodacom Bulls | URC
Saturday 18th June, 2022 | Kick off 6.30pm | DHL Stadium
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GRAND FINAL<br />
<strong>DHL</strong> STORMERS VS VODACOM BULLS<br />
MARTIN ANAyI<br />
WELCOME<br />
INCREDIBLE DRAMA HAS LED US<br />
TO THIS HISTORIC OCCASION<br />
A<br />
season that started<br />
in Parma, Italy now<br />
comes down to just<br />
80 minutes of rugby<br />
in Cape Town, South<br />
Africa in what should be a showcase<br />
of what the <strong>Vodacom</strong> United Rugby<br />
Championship has to offer.<br />
The <strong>DHL</strong> <strong>Stormers</strong> and the<br />
<strong>Vodacom</strong> <strong>Bulls</strong> have emerged<br />
from a Play-Off series drenched<br />
in drama and last weekend’s Final<br />
Four clashes were some of the most<br />
absorbing and exhilarating contests<br />
witnessed in any competition across<br />
the world this season.<br />
The interest in the games has<br />
been backed up by some of our<br />
biggest TV audiences of the<br />
season which showed that over<br />
a quarter of a million tuned in to<br />
watch <strong>DHL</strong> <strong>Stormers</strong> v Ulster and<br />
figures for Leinster v <strong>Vodacom</strong><br />
<strong>Bulls</strong> were just below that mark at<br />
221,000.<br />
The <strong>Vodacom</strong> <strong>Bulls</strong> went to<br />
Dublin, Ireland to take on eighttime<br />
league champions Leinster<br />
and shocked everyone by beating<br />
the best on their own turf. Less<br />
than 24 hours later the <strong>DHL</strong><br />
<strong>Stormers</strong> required 85 minutes<br />
to end the action level with<br />
“<br />
WITH FANS<br />
RETURNING TO<br />
STADIUMS WE<br />
ARE ALSO SEEING<br />
ATTENDANCES<br />
TREND UPWARDS”<br />
Ulster before Manie Libbock’s<br />
conversion sealed victory after an<br />
incredible battle.<br />
It has been quite a turnaround in<br />
fortunes for South African rugby<br />
in the <strong>Vodacom</strong> URC this season.<br />
After the opening tour in Europe<br />
returned just four wins from 16<br />
games many were ready to write<br />
off the entry of <strong>Vodacom</strong> <strong>Bulls</strong>, Cell<br />
C Sharks, Emirates Lions and <strong>DHL</strong><br />
<strong>Stormers</strong> to this league.<br />
After this the pandemic served<br />
up another wave of disruption that<br />
upturned our fixture lists and six<br />
months ago the premise of the<br />
<strong>Vodacom</strong> URC was under scrutiny.<br />
But we love a comeback in sport<br />
and my word did we get one!<br />
From March onwards the South<br />
African teams have been resurgent<br />
and forced established teams<br />
such as Leinster, Munster, Glasgow<br />
Warriors and Ulster into a tight<br />
run for Play-Off positions. The<br />
presence of three South African<br />
teams in the Final Eight was a<br />
validation of their entry to the URC<br />
and driven levels of interest that we<br />
have never seen before.<br />
By the end of April we had broken<br />
the 20-million barrier for our<br />
broadcast audience this season<br />
which smashed our previous best<br />
of 13 million. Working with Free-to-<br />
Air broadcasters such as TG4, RTÉ,<br />
S4C, BBC Wales, BBC Northern<br />
Ireland and Mediaset has opened<br />
up more access to watch and that<br />
combines brilliantly with Premier<br />
Sports and SuperSport who do<br />
4
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