Marais’ chance to go out in glory

TODAY will signal the end of an era at Loftus Versfeld and the beginning of another.

Outgoing Bulls coach Nollis Marais will begin the slow and painful countdown to his exit as Super Rugby coach after what can only be described as a disastrous season for a man whose tenure last year began with so much promise.

As difficult as it will be for him to remain motivated for the remainder of the season after being shown the door this week, he will still have a point to prove that he has always been the right man for the job. There will be no better opposition than the defending champions, the Hurricanes, for Marais to show he can coach at the highest level in franchise rugby.

But much of what has transpired in the past few months has been the result of a group of players who have failed to come to the party either for Marais or themselves as a team and today they will need to show they are better than the results that have blighted their Super Rugby campaign.

The players will need to ensure they bring the curtain down on Marais’ brief and tumultuous stay at the top with a silver lining after a litany of inept performances that saw the Bulls sink to record defeats at home and a shock loss to the Sunwolves in Tokyo.

What begun with so much hope for the future and a return to the glory days for the Bulls must end well with Marais at least being given a chance of what it is like to defeat a New Zealand side. And what will be more important for the players is to impress new boss John Mitchell who will be watching from the lofty terraces at Loftus this afternoon in what will be the beginning of the sifting process of a new and promising era.

While Marais seems to share a close understanding and mutual respect with Mitchell, it will be the playing personnel that will today try and carve a new future for themselves.

Whether that future is with Mitchell and the Bulls going forward will depend largely on how they show some fight and commitment to the battle against the men from the New Zealand capital.

There could not be better opposition than the Hurricanes to test the true mettle of this current crop of underperforming Bulls players, as the defending champions possess threats from all over the field starting with credible set-piece play that has been the undoing of the Cheetahs and Stormers, to their uncompromising defence that often turns into rewarding counter attacks. Just like Marais, Mitchell is big on playing the game at breakneck speed and that is exactly what the Bulls will require to do especially with ball in hand if they are to come close to posing a threat to the Hurricanes. Judging by their string of results, the stars in their team notably the Barrett and Savea brothers, it may see Bulls facing another hiding.