PRETORIA - The Bulls have to show their horns or they could be staring down the barrel of one of their worst seasons.
It may sound dramatic but the truth is that three weeks into the Super Rugby campaign, and with a bye, the Bulls are yet to win a game after losing at the hands of the Stormers and Cheetahs.
Whatever happens, the Bulls cannot afford to lose their first home game against the Sunwolves on Friday.
Bulls captain Handré Pollard has thrown down the gauntlet to his team to make good their impeccable home record and the legacy set before them of
being crowned three-time champions.
The Bulls lost one Super Rugby home game last year - the first year of Nollis Marais's group of players.
Pollard believes they have no better opportunity to make their home a fortress and lay down a winning foundation ahead of their three-match tour to New Zealand and Tokyo.
“If you lose your first two games of the season, there is no problem in motivating the guys,” Pollard said.
“We want to win, we are playing at Loftus and we really want to get the people back at Loftus. We are playing for pride so there is no need for extra motivation. We want a win before we go on tour and it is important for the rest of the season, so no extra motivation needed.”
However, the reality facing the Bulls is that they have started badly and have abandoned the foundations that made them successful - dominating the scrums and line-
outs.
The Bulls have lacked some soul in their performances,
especially in the first half and Pollard’s men in blue have played out of desperation.
They will need the same desperation from start to finish in Friday night’s game but, most importantly, they will need to eliminate the errors that have been their Achilles heel in Cape Town and Bloemfontein.
“We’ve really worked hard and there is no lack of effort from the guys during the week and in the games.
“We just haven’t been clinical enough and there have been too many mistakes. If you are going to make 38 mistakes in the game against the Cheetahs compared to their 12, then you are going to be under pressure and take a lot of shots.
“It’s just too many mistakes but we won’t put it on a pedestal and focus on not making mistakes, we are still going to express ourselves and do what we are going to do but it is something we have been focusing on to lower the error rate,” said Pollard.
And the Bulls will feel they are better suited to finally hitting their straps with the presence of Springboks Lood de Jager, Jan Serfontein and Piet van Zyl in the starting line-up and with the likes of former Bok captain Adriaan Strauss on the bench along with Springbok utility back Jesse Kriel and Bok-in-waiting RG Snyman.
Bulls team: Warrick
Gelant, Travis Ismaiel, Jan Serfontein, Burger Odendaal, Jamba Ulengo, Handré Pollard, Piet van Zyl, Hanro Liebenberg, Renaldo Bothma, Ruan Steenkamp, Lood de Jager, Jason Jenkins, Trevor Nyakane, Edgar Marutlulle, Pierre Schoeman; Replacements: Adriaan Strauss, Lizo Gqoboka, Jacobie Adriaanse, RG Snyman, Jannes Kirsten, Ivan van Zyl, Tian Schoeman, Jesse Kriel.