Bulls banish fear of failure

The Bulls have a woeful record in New Zealand and have won just one of their three matches so far this season, but they have no fear of failure ahead of their Super Rugby match against the Blues at Eden Park in Auckland today.

The Bulls have won just one of their last 10 games in New Zealand, but that last win was against the Blues in 2013.

“Winning rugby has a lot to do with confidence, but I don’t believe we have a fear of failure. It’s just that in the last three games we gave away a lot of possession and territory and turnover ball. We need to find the balance between being clinical and using the ball,” said Adriaan Strauss, who has come through his injury rehab to captain the team.

“The margin of error is small in this competition and we need a focused 80 minutes, with no soft moments. First and foremost we have to be physical and be clinical in what we need to do.”

Coach Nollis Marais (above) has also spoken about the need for better ball-retention and a complete 80-minute effort. The Bulls have simply made too many mistakes and have then battled to get the ball back.

“The Blues are a very good side, they were 21-5 up against the Crusaders and if you give them a lot of turnover ball then they will punish you. But against the Crusaders they gave away penalties and then the Crusaders held on to the ball and used the driving maul, that’s how they won the game.

“We have to make sure we don’t give them much ball. And we haven’t put two halves together yet, so we will need a full 80-minute effort.

“We had 27 opportunities against the Sunwolves but we only used a couple. It’s good to know we’re creating opportunities, but we need to turn those into points. We have worked on our maul and we have to use that better too,” Marais said.

The Blues are vulnerable, however, coming off a run of three successive defeats and they have struggled in the scrums and lineouts and that has created difficulties for them in terms of getting their dangerous passing-and-running game going.

We need to find the balance between being clinical and using the ball. Adriaan Strauss Bulls captain