Bulls in denial over their failure

THE first step to finding solutions is admitting you have a problem. Yet the Bulls, who now have one foot out of this year’s Super Rugby competition, remain in denial.

On Friday the Pretoria side lost 16-22 to the Brumbies in Canberra — their third successive defeat on tour this year, and the 10th time on the trot they have been dehorned in Australasia since 2013.

This is not a record to be proud of, and also one of the first things Bulls coach Frans Ludeke downplays.

“We don’t count it like that (10th defeat in a row),” Ludeke said from Australia after the defeat.

“We isolate it by looking at this [year’s] tour on its own. This is our third loss on tour. Sure, we are disappointed, especially given the effort we put in during the week also — the mindset was good, the belief was there. I really thought we had great preparation.”

After each of the three matches on tour this season (defeats to the Blues, Chiefs and Brumbies), the side from Pretoria has been singing the same tune — “we came close”, “we played well”, “it was a game of special moments” — yet results have not been forthcoming.

The Bulls have one more fixture Down Under before they return home to Loftus Versfeld for their last match against the Cheetahs. This week they play the Rebels and face the possibility of two successive seasons without a win on the road.

This is the Bulls’ second- longest losing streak on tour since their 27 winless streak between 1996 and 2002.

On Friday, one of the Bulls’ weaknesses was their defence. They leaked three tries, scoring only one. Their defence — with the exception of a gutsy showing by centre Burger Odendaal — left much to be desired. Yet Ludeke saw it differently.

“In the game we defended well,” he said defensively.

“You can never be satisfied with letting guys through, but it was a game of special moments... I thought we worked our way into good field positions, but it was a pity that we could not convert one of our opportunities.”

With the defeat to the Brumbies, the Bulls remained in ninth place on the overall log — three spots from the play-offs zone. With the competition fast reaching the business end, the Pretoria side’s fate now is not even in their own hands.

They will need almost a mir- acle — and favours from other teams — to slide into the top six with a mathematical chance.

“It’s out of our hands now,” Ludeke admitted. “We now need a favour from others for something to happen. We’d like to try to finish well. We can’t control what happens in other games. There's still hope, you know, we have one game left on tour. We’ll try to play well enough to get the result and also when we get home.”

The Bulls have fallen short on their mission of “at least two wins” Down Under.

They also failed to implement the attacking plan they had promised on tour.