They may still be well-placed in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship, but the Vodacom Bulls will need to find a way of cutting down errors, especially on artificial pitches, if they are to pick up some crucial points in their final week of their short tour to Europe.
The Bulls face Scarlets, who have used the European season to pick up some exceptional wins, and will be full of confidence when they host the Pretoria side on Friday night.
But while the Bulls are a force to be reckoned with on their home turf of Loftus Versfeld, for some reason, when they get on the plane up north, they struggle - especially on artificial pitches - where they find it difficult to stem the error count, and tend to be a lot more passive on defence.
Their Champions’ Cup defeat at the hands of Lyon was just the latest case in point for the Pretoria side, who are still adjusting to conditions up north.
While Bulls teams have traditionally not travelled well - even in Super Rugby they used to struggle away from home - the move up north has given new challenges for them, and apart from the cold the realisation that the 4G pitches are part and parcel of the challenge needs to hit home soon.
While there are excuses in terms of a tough travelling schedule, as well as little time to prepare in the cold, the Bulls have provided some good performances - their extraordinary win at RDS against Leinster last season in the semifinal and their bonus point win against the Dragons was another.
But these have been too few and far inbetween as they navigate the new reality they are faced with at the moment.
There certainly is some work being done behind the scenes for the Bulls, but in the most part they won’t be happy with their own performances away from home.
Assistant coach Chris Rossouw acknowledged as much after the Lyon game, saying his side needed to come to terms with the artificial surface, but that it wasn’t an excuse.
“When you play on an artificial pitch, the pitch is much more reactive – also in terms of ball control – so you will see a lot of those errors were around the ruck area. When you place the ball, it’s not as stable as when you play on grass.
“The second thing is the pressure. If you make unforced errors in terms of passing, it’s either your decision-making or some sort of delay with the breakdown, then you are not in the perfect position and that causes errors.
“South African teams in general have the same experience, so it’s something we need to find a solution to. When you come over, you have a short time to train and to adapt. But unforced errors come from pressure, decision-making¸ conditions.
“Scarlets have been on a good run over the last few games. So, this would complete our eight-week stint in which we’ve had six away. The guys are looking forward to this one, and then a little bit of a break after that.”
The Bulls will also be hoping that the team doesn’t experience the one-foot-on-the-plane scenario, although given the last eight weeks that they have had, they could always argue they’ve always had a foot on a place somewhere as they rack up the air miles.
Still, a win over Scarlets would set them up nicely for a run at home and with some crucial games coming up, it would be a massive boost to their aspirations.
But first they need to defeat the artificial pitch demon in their own heads, and ensure their performances are up to their own standards.
Then they will have a chance.