In the four years of the BKT United Rugby Championship, no team has won more games than Leinster and the Bulls.
Leo Cullen's side have won 63 of the 80 games they've played since September 2021, while the Bulls are next best with 54, but yet neither side have been able to get their hands on the trophy.
That will change today.
When the big four South African teams linked up with this competition in 2021, the hope was that they could shake up the old order which had seen the Irish provinces - and more specifically Leinster - dominate the previous four seasons.
Leo Cullen's side won four Pro12 and Pro14 titles in a row between 2018 and 2021, with two of those being all-Irish finals.
They've remained the pace-setters in the URC-era, but have found themselves overtaken on the final bend for three years in a row, with three semi-final defeats, two of those to this weekend's opponents.
The Bulls' play-off record is better, but only just. While this will be their third trip to the Grand Final in four seasons, they've come up short on each occasion.
In normal circumstances, all the pressure would be on the Bulls to correct that, but they have travelled to Ireland this week embracing their status as underdogs.
On multiple occasions, their head coach Jake White has spoken in glowing terms of Leinster.
When he hasn't been referencing their 12 British and Irish Lions and their hundreds of Test caps, he's been speaking of their budget and their big-money signings RG Snyman, Jordie Barrett and Rabah Slimani.
It's been the perfect charm offensive from the former World Cup-winning Springboks coach. With every platitude he's laid before Leinster, another bit of pressure lands on their shoulders.
White has twice masterminded semi-final wins against Leinster, the first of which was a real shock as the Bulls produced a sensational 27-26 win at the RDS in 2022.
That win inflicted a first trophyless season on Leinster since 2017 and a summer of soul searching. Three years on, it's incredible to think Leinster are still waiting to get their hands on a trophy.
This four-year spell without silverware has largely been defined by Leinster's Champions Cup pain, with three final defeats and most recently a semi-final loss to Northampton Saints.
Had one or two of those finals against La Rochelle and Toulouse gone their way, their URC semi-final defeats might have been more palatable.
It's left Leinster in a catch 22 where anything less than a win today would be deemed a great failure, but they're unlikely to be showered in praise if they win.
With so much criticism falling their way since their Champions Cup collapse, Leinster have started to make the negative press work in their favour.
The province's media team lit the fire last Friday with an 'Us against the world' Instagram post, before Joe McCarthy and Jack Conan carrying that theme on in their post-match comments after the semi-final win against Glasgow.
The energy they showed in their semi-final win against Glasgow would suggest that they should be bitter more often.
After a run of games in which they looked weighted down by their Champions Cup defeats, the 37-19 semi-final win last weekend was a return to form as they dominated Glasgow physically, far beyond what the scoreline would suggest.
Their defensive line played with the reckless abandon we'd seen in the middle third of this season, when they looked a cut above the rest.
Statistics presented by Ross Hamilton this week showed how only 29% of Glasgow's carries led to a gainline success last week, as they were consistently sent backwards in contact, which limited their ability to generate any kind of attack.
Even with the same energy in defence, it's unlikely that Leinster will have a similar dominance against a Bulls side who are much more powerful than the Warriors, although even having parity at the gainline will be a solid start for the hosts.
The Bulls have won the last two meetings of the sides, both in Pretoria, defeating Leinster in the semi-final last year, before a regular season win at Loftus Versfeld in March.
Their semi-final win last year saw an exhibition in open-field kicking from Willie le Roux in particular, whose left foot was used to get to the outside of the Leinster defence on numerous occasions in the opening hour.
The Bulls dominated in the air that evening, most notably when Sergeal Peterson beat Ciarán Frawley to a high-ball that resulted in the winning try.
Crucially, Leinster had control of the kicking game against Glasgow last week, and kicked 35 times to take control of territory, either through winning clean ball or knocking possession back on their side, or forcing knock-ons, from which they were excellent at the scrum.
Contestable kicks will be a large feature of this final, particularly with the Bulls having the best scrum in the league.
While Leinster were impressive at the scrum against Warriors, the Bulls put on a clinic in their semi-final last weekend, utterly dominating a Sharks pack who had previously demolished Munster's set-piece a week earlier.
The battle between Andrew Porter and Wico Louw will be worth the price of admission alone.
The scrum holds the key, but in open play the South Africans have been dealt a major blow with a knee injury ruling out number 8 Cameron Hanekom.
The 23-year-old's absence will be keenly felt, even with the experienced Marco van Staden providing relief.
Leinster have injury issues of their own, with Hugo Keenan, Tadhg Furlong and Caelan Doris all absent, but they still look deeper on their bench, with the likes of Rónan Kelleher, RG Snyman (below), Max Deegan and Jamie Osborne likely to inject fresh energy when called upon.
Sam Prendergast keeps his place at out-half, and there will be pressure on the 23-year-old to get his radar working off the tee, having left 11 points behind last week, while he will also need to stand up physically on defence.
Ross Byrne will be available to sub in if needed, the 30-year-old is set for his 186th and final game for the province ahead of a move to Gloucester this summer.
Jordie Barrett is also playing for the final time after his high-profile stint in blue, while there will be significant motivation to give Cian Healy his 13th trophy with Leinster before his retirement this summer.
The 37-year-old, who has also won five Six Nations titles in an 18-year-career, isn't part of the Leinster matchday 23, but there's no doubt he'll (reluctantly) be pushed front and centre of the celebrations if the province are lifting the trophy at Croke Park.
Verdict: Leinster
Leinster: Jimmy O'Brien; Tommy O'Brien, Garry Ringrose, Jordie Barrett, James Lowe; Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Thomas Clarkson; Joe McCarthy, James Ryan; Ryan Baird, Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan (capt).
Replacements: Rónan Kelleher, Jack Boyle, Rabah Slimani, RG Snyman, Max Deegan, Luke McGrath, Ross Byrne, Jamie Osborne.
Bulls: Willie le Roux; Canan Moodie, David Kriel, Harold Vorster, Sebastian de Klerk; Johan Goosen, Embrose Papier; Jan-hendrik Wessels, Johan Grobbelaar, Wilco Louw; Cobus Wiese, JF van Heerden; Marco van Staden, Ruan Nortje (capt), Marcell Coetzee.
Replacements: Akker van der Merwe, Alulutho Tshakweni, Mornay Smith, Jannes Kirsten, Nizaam Carr, Zak Burger, Keagan Johannes, Devon Williams.
Referee: Andrea Pairdi (FIR)
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