Why are the Bulls running out of gas?
STAT ATTACK: The Bulls will look to end their four-match losing streak when they travel to Durban for a face-off with an improved Sharks selection.
The home team, the Sharks, ended their bad patch with a gritty 28-23 Champions Cup win over a powerful Saracens team at Kings Park last week.
Having won just one of their six matches in the United Rugby Championship and also losing 19-56 to Stade Toulousain in a Champions Cup first-round match, the win over the English giants would have installed some belief in the Durban-based franchise.
In stark contrast, the Bulls have not just lost their last four matches and five of their last six encounters, but an alarming pattern has emerged.
There are question marks over the team’s conditioning, given how they have faded in the last quarter of all four of their most recent reversals.
The drama started in the URC Round Five encounter with Glasgow (12-21) at Scotstoun Stadium in late October.
They trailed by just two points (5-7) at half-time and had snatched the lead to be 12-7 up on the hour mark.
Then came the implosion.
A yellow card (with their poor discipline also an issue) and Glasgow scored 14 points to seal the win.
It was a similar story in a (33-43) loss to the Lions at Loftus Versfeld in late November.
Trailing by three points (19-22) at half-time, three tries (two in the last 10 minutes), gave the Lions an unassailable 43-19 lead.
Two late scores gave the Bulls’ scoreline some credibility.
Moving on to the Champions Cup, the Bulls got off to a flying start against Union Bordeaux Bègles at Loftus on December 6, leading 33-22 on a balmy Saturday afternoon.
However, a combination of poor discipline and running out of puff (again) saw Bordeaux shut out the Bulls and run out 46-33 winners. The Bulls also conceded two yellow cards.
The French outfit scored three tries in the last quarter.
It was even worse against last year’s finalists, Northampton Saints, at Franklin’s Gardens this past weekend.
Trailing just 5-14 after a competitive first half, the English giants scored 36 unanswered second-half points, with another yellow card and four tries in the final quarter.
In the Champions Cup, the Bulls only feature prominently in one aspect of the game, the scrums.
The Pretoria team’s statistics don’t make for good reading, despite being just two rounds into the competition.
They have conceded 15 tries, at least half of them in the final quarter, a tackle success rate of below 80 percent (it was just 66 percent against Union Bordeaux Bègles).
There were 21 penalties, three yellow cards and 35 turnovers lost.
The URC stats don’t make for better reading either.
With 148 missed tackles in six matches (an average of 25 per match), their tackle success rate sits at an unacceptable 79 percent.
They have scored 26 tries (just over four per match), but conceded 27. They have also conceded three yellow cards and 50 penalties.
At least their scrum success stands at 98 percent.
It is 100 percent in their two Euro matches.
It is clear there are some big issues, with the conditioning, discipline and defence coaches under the spotlight.
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