Bulls bring their mindgames to bear on Leinster

In the build-up to tomorrow’s URC final at Croke Park, Bulls coach Jake White has, as Johnny Watterson describes it, been applying his “mastery of sports psychology” in his chats with the media, all in an attempt “to get Leinster to believe in their own untouchable majesty”. You couldn’t but smile, then, when Gerry Thornley heard White declare that “we’re playing Ireland on Saturday”, Leinster “just happen to have a different colour jersey”.

Leo Cullen, need it be said, has opted not to frame the final as a David v Goliath type contest, instead he’s just focussed on Leinster finishing a mixed bag of a season on a high note - and in doing so, ensuring Jordie Barrett and Ross Byrne set sail with winners medal in their pockets.

In hurling, Joe Canning watched the Munster final from his couch last weekend and it brought back memories of some of the highest pressure moments in his career. “If I miss this, I’m f**ked. I’ll never live this down. I’ll always be remembered for this.”

Dublin’s forwards have been doing some hitting and missing themselves of late, their dependency on Con O’Callaghan and Cormac Costello’s firepower, Gordon Manning writes, leaving them in treacherous waters going in to tomorrow’s game against Derry. If they are to survive and mount a serious charge for the Sam Maguire, “they will need more scoring backup from the supporting cast”.

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Over at Oakmont, Philip Reid saw Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry left “battered and bruised” by their opening rounds in the US Open, but JJ Spaun had no such troubles, the Californian becoming just the eighth player ever to go around without dropping a shot.

In soccer, Gavin Cummiskey reports on major woes for Drogheda United after their removal from the Conference League qualifier draw, despite being the FAI Cup champions. Uefa excluded them because their sister club Silkeborg IF are in the same competition, but Drogheda plan on going to CAS to appeal the decision.

In athletics, there was no joy for Rhasidat Adeleke or Mark English at the Oslo Diamond League on Thursday evening, Ian O’Riordan reporting on their efforts, while Sonia O’Sullivan looks ahead to this weekend’s NCAA Track and Field Championships in Oregon, a traditional breeding ground for track and field champions, which will feature seven Irish athletes.

And in racing, Brian O’Connor writes about how “business trumped sport” with “Godolphin’s campaigning of their two best classic colts on either side of the Atlantic last week”. The withdrawal of Ruling Court from the Derby and denying Sovereignty a shot at US Triple Crown might have been “judicious investments in commercial bloodstock good sense”. But? “From a sporting point of view, it just looked gutless.”

TV Watch: Sky Sports Golf continues its coverage of the US Open from 12.30 this afternoon, and this evening, reigning champions Shelbourne host leaders Shamrock Rovers in the Premier Division (Virgin Media Two, 7.45).