Ireland's Doris will get new injury 'checked out'

Ireland captain Caelan Doris says he will get the injury which forced him to leave the field early in Leinster's emphatic 36-7 United Rugby Championship final win over the Pretoria Bulls "checked out".

The back row retired hurt just seven minutes into the Croke Park encounter, having recovered sufficiently from a knee injury sustained in the team's semi-final victory over the Stormers to take his place in the starting line-up for the decider.

The sight of Doris coming off injured will have caused concern for Ireland coach Andy Farrell with his side's Nations Championship opener against Australia in Sydney just two weeks away.

Ireland also face Japan on 11 July and New Zealand one week later.

Doris was replaced by Ireland team-mate Jack Conan, who went on to score one of his side's five tries as they became the first side to claim back-to-back league titles, both signed off with successes over the Bulls.

"I was optimistic about my knee and my knee was fine, it was actually something else, so we'll get it checked later," Doris told Premier Sports after the game.

The number eight commended his squad for "turning the page" on their European Champions Cup final defeat by Bordeaux-Begles last month by beating their South African opponents in Dublin on Friday.

"To see us front up physically, it goes a long way to beating the Bulls," he said.

"From a big disappointment a few weeks ago, very proud of the whole organisation in how we've been able to turn the page and have such a very special day here.

"We had an unbelievable start to the game and you could see the guys were on it physically and that went a long way towards the victory."

The back row added that the impending departure of so many members of the squad at the end of this campaign provided a significant motivating factor for the success.

The province's record try-scorer James Lowe is leaving after nine years as part of Irish rugby, while All-Black centre Rieko Ioane is returning to the Blues after his one-year sabbatical.

Luke McGrath is heading to French outfit Perpignan, while Jerry Cahir, Ciaran Frawley and Will Connors are all Connacht-bound.

"There are a lot of big characters leaving the squad and that was a massive motivation to get it right and thankfully we were able to do that," added the Leinster skipper.

"It's huge. It was a full squad effort and has been throughout the season, we've used so many players.

"The lads stood up massively today and it was great to watch."

Player-of-the-match Sam Prendergast described retaining the URC crown as "pretty special".

"We have a number of unbelievable characters leaving and it's good to give them a few nice days celebrating," he said, echoing the words of Doris.

"The feeling felt very similar to last year's final.

"I suppose since Europe this group's sole focus has been about winning this trophy, no one has won it back-to-back, but now we have."