MARK KEOHANE | See the flaring nostrils? These are not last year’s Bulls

A year ago, the Bulls arrived in Dublin hoping they could beat Leinster, but they were too fractured as a squad to play with the conviction needed to win the title.

On Friday evening at the same Croke Park venue where they took a 32-7 beating, the conviction is there ― a united coaching staff and group of players who scramble on defence for each other and refuse to fold because of their respect for one another.

A year ago Bulls coach Jake White had lost the change room and divided his coaching support staff. His replacement Johan Ackermann has rebuilt the squad and united them.

The other primary difference is double World Cup winner Handre Pollard at flyhalf.

Johan Goosen played No 10 in last season’s final, but he had returned from another serious long-term injury and was underwhelming in presence.

Pollard, who spent four seasons at Montpellier in France and two seasons at Leicester in England, was brought back to Pretoria to give the Bulls direction and to win titles.

Mentally, they won’t come tougher in rugby than Pollard and this mental strength has been infectious with the Bulls.

Ackermann had to sift through the rubble of what was left from last season and it took seven successive defeats for the rebuild to be complete.

He changed the mood through clarity, honesty and accountability.

This is a team that has scored the most tries and points in the season, but their desire to tackle is why they are in the final.

Ackermann consistently referred to the Bulls as a family and often told the media that families sort out issues internally.

He said issues had been sorted and that the group of players in his squad were good enough to beat anyone in the competition and good enough to win the title.

Desperation, a refusal to be beaten and consistency are what would take them to the final.

These Bulls have scrapped and fought to win matches overseas that a year ago they lost.

They have won in the final minutes of matches and in the final play.

This is a team that has scored the most tries and points in the season, but their desire to tackle is why they are in the final.

This defensive determination will be critical to a first URC title in their fourth appearance in the final.

South Africa has had a finalist in every edition of the five URC seasons, with the Stormers beating the Bulls in the first final.

The Bulls then hosted the third season’s final against Glasgow and lost.

Ackermann leans into history as a lesson and not as a measurement.

If you live in the past you stay there; this is why any reflection is measured and never belaboured.

Ackermann has always built his winning teams on strong characters. He did so with the Lions in South Africa and with Gloucester in England. Trust is everything to Ackermann and this is a Bulls squad in which the players and coaches trust each other.

The Bulls have an imposing substitutes’ line-up and the best scrum in the league.

They also have the in-form loose-forward/scrumhalf in Embrose Papier and the 400-plus match experience of Willie le Roux in the No 15 jersey.

Leinster is a world-class squad, with 20 of their 23 players being internationals. They are a powerhouse who seldom lose in Dublin, regardless of which venue hosts the opposition. They hammered the Lions in the quarterfinal and edged the Stormers in a brutal semifinal.

The Bulls will be as physical and brutal as the Stormers, but they will be more composed and more experienced in the halfbacks.

Pollard is the key, as he has always been in any final.