Bulls humiliated by defeat to Chiefs

As he surveyed the wreckage of their unexpected and heavy 56-20 defeat to the Chiefs at Loftus on Saturday‚ Bulls coach Pote Human admitted that the result was embarrassing.

The Bulls hosted the New Zealanders on the back of two good wins over the Lions and Sharks but they disintegrated against the Chiefs side, who went into the game under pressure and lying at the bottom of the overall Super Rugby standings.

The Bulls‚ who have dropped to fourth in the SA conference‚ were outscored seven to two tries, and they were outplayed and outmuscled in every department by the Chiefs, who registered their first win of the campaign after six matches.

“We didn’t pitch up at all‚ I think we were still on a bye.

“I gave the guys some time off last week because we had a bye and I think they were still off‚” a clearly disappointed Human said after one of their heaviest defeats at Loftus.

“This is humiliation for us, but we have to dig deep and come back stronger against the Sharks next week.

“From the kickoff we struggled‚ we were flat and we didn’t have the energy.

“The Chiefs were good but we were just off and poor.

“We allowed them to play‚ we threw the ball away too many times and it was just not our day.”

With a tough trip to Durban next, Human said he hoped their poor performance was just a blip as they must keep up with the Lions‚ Sharks and Stormers, who occupy the top three positions in SA.

“I hope this was just a blip because we are much better than this and we showed it in three of the first four games‚” he said.

“This is a bad result for us but we must take it on the chin and come back stronger next week.

“We expected them to come with energy and a high level of intensity and we prepared for that‚ but unfortunately we did not pitch at all and this must serve as wake-up call.

“The tournament is not won in March.

“There is still a lot of rugby to be played before the playoffs, but if we play like this we will never get anywhere close to that.

“Every player and management member will have to look at themselves and come back with a much better effort next week.

“I have asked the players to look in the mirror and ask themselves if this is the best they can do.

“We know that we are much better than this.

“If we want to play for the playoffs we must bounce back big next week.” –