Bulls brilliant but Marais insists: we’ll get better

HOPE. That is exactly what Blue Bulls coach Nollis Marais and his young, exciting and explosive team have brought back to Loftus Versfeld.

There is finally hope that the Bulls can come back to dominate domestic rugby after yet another polished display of ruthless running rugby not yet seen in these parts of South Africa in a while, when they put Western Province to the sword on Saturday night.

The elation of the crowd and appreciation from the players after the game said it all: there is hope the Currie Cup trophy might finally return after a sixyear absence with their 47-29 win affirming them as real title contenders this season.

Yes, they are a team under construction and what the finished product will be like remains to be seen, but the Currie Cup standings tell of the reawakening of a giant that had long been in slumber.

The Bulls have transformed from a team that mastered the art of a forward and set-piece orientated game to now being the toast of the country with their brand of champagne rugby.

Against Western Province on Saturday it took all of 35 minutes to break and bury the defending champions but Marais says there is still a long way to go before his team plays the kind of rugby that they can.

Not even the fact that the Bulls still lead the standings having won all three of their games – against the Free State Cheetahs, Griquas and Western Province with bonus points – is enough for Marais. His belief that the team will still get better won’t be good news for the other Currie Cup sides.

“Of course we can get better. There are too many mistakes still. Basic errors at the breakdown and set-piece need sorting out. I think we are way off from where we want to be especially when giving away silly points like interception tries because we didn’t execute correctly. So I do feel that we have another few weeks left that we can still improve on.”

Marais’ lofty ambitions for his team and individual players has clearly rubbed off on the team as the likes of Warrick Gelant, Marvin Orie, Burger Odendaal, Tian Schoeman and Jacques du Plessis are playing way above the inexperience that is associated with their young age.

Much of the confidence that the Bulls have displayed in the past three weeks might also come from stalwarts like Francois Hougaard, Lappies Labuschagne, Dean Greyling, Bandise Makuand and Werner Kruger who have turned back the clock with their performances.

However, the celebrations from Saturday will be a thing of the past this week as Marais prepares his team to face Griquas in Kimberley.

Griquas will test the Bulls’ ability to maintain and build on this new-found rich vein of form, and Marais believes the trick is for his team to remain humble, fix those areas of the game that went wrong before even casting their thoughts on a possible date with destiny and bringing an end to a five-year trophy-less drought in the capital city.

“We made a commitment to each other that we are only looking at the next game; we haven’t won anything. We’re not thinking about winning the Currie Cup, only about fixing certain things. Right now we’re only thinking about Griquas, because they will be a tough challenge, it’s always tough in Kimberley.”