Revived Blue Bulls announce their return to credibility

● If proof is needed that the Bulls are turning a new leaf, it came in the shape of their locks masquerading as centres yesterday.

Bulls tight forwards RG Snyman and Lood de Jager revelled in the wide open spaces.

The Loftus pitch was a lot soggier than usual, which made for errors on both sides. But it helped script a tense spectacle.

The Bulls broke a three-match losing sequence against the 2016 champions with a popular win that will serve as the first building block in the restoration of faith in the famed blue machine.

Kiwi coach John Mitchell is transforming the franchise, not just renewing playing method, aerobic ability and endurance, but, crucially, restoration of belief.

Thankfully for the Bulls, Snyman and De Jager weren’t alone in pegging the visitors on their heels. They were aided by fellow forwards like flank Roelof Smit, who challenged gallantly in the tight loose.

It also helped that the Bulls scrum, which in recent seasons has become a maligned element of their game, proved a reliable, if not a deployable weapon in the second half.

The visitors, who usually apply their craft to ride the advances of their opponents in that facet, were heavily penalised in the second half.

At the back Bok flyhalf Handre Pollard ran the show with purpose but not always precision.

The Hurricanes, of course, are a team that needs no convincing of the virtues of artistic merit, and though they revealed their crafty side from time to time, it was their belligerent defence that kept them in the game until the end.

What was evident early on was that the Bulls’ are a much improved side in their offloads and support play. The backs and forwards combined almost seamlessly in the opening exchanges.

What wasn’t clear then was whether they’d developed the temperament and game management to weather the storm the Hurricanes were going to unleash later.

The visitors’ Ngane Laumape, the pocket battleship of a centre, dinged defenders as if they were in a pinball machine. The introduction of All Blacks’ award-winning flyhalf Beauden Barrett momentarily sparked the visitors but his impact was limited from fullback.

In the end the Bulls weathered this storm, which sets up next weekend’s Jukskei derby as a mouth-watering affair.