After having cannibalised themselves in their 23-18 defeat at the hands of the Blues to get their tour off to the worst possible start, the Bulls have been handed a crucial lifeline by ending the weekend on top of the South African conference and keeping their play-off hopes alive and well.
The failure of the Lions to beat the Brumbies in Johannesburg kept the Bulls ahead of the pack in the local conference even though they slipped to third place on the overall Super Rugby standings.
The Bulls currently lead the local conference standings by 35 points with the Stormers in second on 34 points, while the Lions now trail the conference leaders by four points with the woeful Sharks and Cheetahs in fourth and fifth spots.
While the Bulls are far from being guaranteed a place in the play-offs, they will feel that the only threat to them making the knockout stage of the competition are the Stormers and to a lesser extent the Lions.
The Bulls will need to win their remaining games on tour against the Chiefs, Brumbies and Rebels but the pressure will be on the Stormers and the Lions to do the same with the Stormers and Lions still to play against each other in what could still be a conference decider depending on how the Bulls fare on tour.
The current log standings will be a major boost for the Bulls after their demoralising loss in Auckland which would have planted the seed of doubt in their ability to win on tour as their last victory in Australasia had come in 2013 and Friday’s defeat was their eighth consecutive loss abroad.
While the Bulls will carry with them plenty of hope going into this week’s clash against the Chiefs in Rotorua, they will also have to exorcise themselves of their travelling demons while also dealing with the disappointment of losing a game that they should never have lost after the overwhelming dominance they enjoyed in all facets of the game against the Blues.
Bulls coach Frans Ludeke aptly said that his team’s remaining fixtures on tour were critical and that his team have now fallen into desperation mode in their plight to secure themselves a berth in the play-offs.
“It has become crucial for us to now stay in the race and win the remainder of our games on tour.
“We had the opportunities against the Blues but we failed to convert. It doesn’t get easier for us on this tour and we are getting more desperate. What is important is that we keep the faith and hopefully things will come right next week,” said Ludeke from their base in Auckland.
Besides their egos being dented after losing to a team third from the bottom of the log, the Bulls will be concerned about the injury to scrumhalf Rudy Paige.
Paige sustained what seemed like a flare up of his knee ligament injury which had kept him out of action for three weeks prior to Friday’s game and the Bulls medical staff will wait until today to make a determination on the extent of the injury.
The Bulls went on tour with slim resources at scrumhalf after the injury to Piet van Zyl ruled him out for the remainder of the year and will rely on Francois Hougaard to make the move from wing back to scrumhalf, while the inexperienced and little known André Warner is cover at nine. - The Star