In terms of their season, Saturday’s loss to the DHL Stormers wasn’t just a setback, it was a massive blow to Johan Ackermann’s side and their prospects for the remainder of the campaign.
The Bulls sit in eighth spot in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship, with six wins and six losses, and in the bigger picture are fast running out of chances to make a massive impact in the tournament.
As it stands, even a late run is unlikely to get them into the top four, which means any post-regular-season impact will need to be away from home, which makes things much more difficult.
But while the remaining fixtures are one thing, the team’s submission at the hands of the Stormers forwards is another major headache. The Bulls had been on a four-match winning streak and were looking to power on in the tournament.
But on Saturday they were beaten in the scrums, lost the lineout battle and were second best in the rolling maul. The manner in which the Stormers dismantled their physical presence and the so-called advantage at Loftus Versfeld at altitude, is not only a concern, but a major worry.
The Bulls simply looked as if they had reverted back to the overplaying that cost them in the opening part of the season.
Now, with the derbies over, coach Johan Ackermann sits with a 43 per cent win record and an uncertain rest of the tournament. This certainly wasn’t what the Bulls hierarchy were promising when they let Jake White go after taking the team to three finals in four years.
The good news is that they still have their destiny in their own hands, but unfortunately that destiny is now heavily dependent on them winning every single remaining game.
That starts on Friday after a short turnaround, against Cardiff, a game they simply must win, before a tougher encounter against Irish province Munster.
From there on, there are two away fixtures against Dragons and Scarlets (on the back of an Investec Champions Cup Round of 16 fixture against Franco Smith’s Glasgow Warriors) before a return home to face the two Italian sides, Zebre Parma and Benetton.
None of these are easy fixtures, yet none would regularly scare the Bulls either. Their biggest unanswered question is their own form rather than the opposition. When - as they have shown against the Lions and Sharks - they have hit the ground running, they have looked unstoppable.
But that has happened far too seldom this season.
ADDED PRESSURE
On Saturday night, Ackermann admitted the team is placing undue pressure on themselves. And they are running out of time.
“We just added the pressure on ourselves now that our margin for losing games is getting less and less. So if you win at home now, you probably could have eased the pressure on your away games. But now there will be more pressure on Cardiff now and then obviously you've got Munster left and then you're a month away from home on the road for the EPCR as well as the remaining away URC games,” Ackermann said.
“So I said to the players now, you know, this hurts because of the manner that we play but time to sulk is not a lot. It's a short turnaround. We play on Friday and the best thing we can do is first of all look at yourself, fix yourself, then come back Monday collectively as a team with the right mindset that we need to bounce back on Friday.
“So hopefully we will do that well because, you know, we have to perform to stay in touch with everybody.”
The relief of turning the seven-game losing streak into a four-game winning streak is now gone. One game doesn’t define a season, but it certainly can place more pressure on it.
The Bulls know that and are feeling that. How they react will determine what happens next.