Poor conversion frustrates Marais

The Bulls dominated possession and territory in the second half but failed to turn that into point and Marais feels they should have won by a bigger margin.

"We are dominating the setpieces and that is allowing us to create more scoring opportunities which is pleasing. However, our conversion rate of ball possession to points was not good enough [against the Sunwolves] and I feel like we should have won by a bigger margin.

"We can't rely on winning the match in the final 10 minutes," he said.

The victory was the Bulls' first outside of South Africa for three years but captain Adriaan Strauss stressed the fact that they are in a new era and refuse to look at history.

"To be honest, we just focussed on the game. History does not contribute on the day, it is a new year for us and we don't look at the past.

"All that matters is the 80 minutes on the field. We wanted our conversion rate to be better and we ended up chasing our own standards on the day. The slippery conditions contribute to the handling errors on the night but we did quite well despite there being a lot of turnovers.

"The turnovers gave the Sunwolves plenty of chances to run at us but we were in an attacking mindset. They capitalised on turnover possession and put us under pressure," Strauss said.

Marais believes the Sunwolves have a clever coaching staff and will only improve as the tournament progresses.

"They [Sunwolves] are an excellent side who are well coached and what I like most about them, is that their coaching staff are very clever. They will keep getting better.

"I am happy we played them now and not in a few weeks time because they are a really good side that should not be underestimated," Marais added.