While they would normally be considered favourites on their home ground fortress of Loftus Versfeld, the Vodacom Bulls need to deal with an existential crisis of their own making as they head into a massive Vodacom United Rugby Championship clash with the DHL Stormers on Saturday.
It isn’t a secret that the Bulls are a bit frustrated with their own performances of late, the lack of finishing power in the red zone and some of the form shown by their senior players.
Of course, all of this happened in a two month window that saw them play seven of their last eight games away.
And while there was a lot of positives in terms of team development, the Bulls had enough soft moments to see their own to see their top four hopes take a bit of a knock.
It is one of the most frustrating things, and the emergence of their self-doubt emerged with the departure of Marcell Coetzee and Walt Steenkamp, both of whom had a profound effect on the steeliness that the pack played with.
SOFT MOMENTS
Their discipline has suffered over the course of the two months and the soft moments - especially a five minute spell against the Stormers last time out that cost them three tries - have hampered a side that should, and could be a lot more formidable.
Just where the Bulls currently stand is anyone’s guess. They are still an exceptional side, but in the heat of battle against the Stormers this weekend, the looming stat of a fifth consecutive loss against the old enemy has helped that self-doubt creep back.
The Bulls are the only ones who can answer just where they are in their own development process, and they will know a loss could see them drop a few places if other results for Munster and Glasgow on Friday night see a few changes on the log.
NO MARCELL
Doing without Coetzee has been a massive blow for the Bulls, but they took the decision to get him back and not lose him permanently. It was a steep price to pay and while the scrum has been solid, the pack as a whole has not had the ruthlessness normally associated with the blue jersey.
So this weekend is more than an acid test. It is a home game, and an important one at that.
It is a chance for the Bulls to answer their critics, and it is also a chance for them to find the consistency that has been missing for a while now.
They will be the first to admit that their own soft moments have cost them. And how so much good has been undone by their own hot and cold performances. Too many marquee players, who have been expected to step up in the tough situations, have been mediocre at best and it leaves the Bulls season in a precarious place.
LOFTUS CROWD AN ALLY
Loftus and its crowd - hopefully the biggest in a while in Pretoria - could be a staunch ally, but more than anything the Bulls will need to find their own confidence if they are to break the frustration of their own inconsistency.
Forwards coach Russell Winter admitted as much.
“That’s what’s frustrating us the most: it’s just the consistency of the way we play. There have been patches where we have been outstanding, and then for some or other reason, there are such soft moments in our game. We are trying to iron those out, and want to make sure it doesn’t happen on Saturday, meaning those silly penalties,” Winter said ahead of the clash this weekend.
LACK OF CONSISTENCY
“We just want to try to play a game where we see none of those silly mistakes. Our discipline really needs to improve. It’s cost us, and in the games we’ve lost, it’s been our Achilles heel.
“We’ve got to make sure we don’t give away those soft moments, those soft penalties, where we are just allowing the pressure to be back on us. It’s something that we’ve worked hard on over the last week-and-a half.
“It’s really important that we limit the mistakes, not only in conceding penalties, but stupid little knock-ons, handling errors, set-piece errors. Whoever makes the least mistakes is likely to win this game.”
Winter is wary of the Stormers scrum, even though the Springboks aren’t there. The Stormers lesson they gave the Sharks has the Bulls sitting up and watching.
“Their scrum – they put the Sharks under a hell of a lot of pressure in the scrums, and you know what that can result in. You don’t want to give away silly penalties, and you want to make sure you try to keep them in an area of the field where you can pressure them the most.
“Those are the two aspects we really need to watch out for. And at the same time, defensively, they have been outstanding. They are coming off the line so hard and putting teams under pressure, forcing them to make a lot of mistakes.
“We need to make sure we hold onto the ball in the right areas of the field. Last but not least, their attack has been outstanding as well.”
The Bulls will name their team for the clash on Friday.