Bulls director of rugby Jake White has compared his team’s drive to make the URC playoffs to a golfer trying to make the halfway cut in a tournament.
The Bulls (43) are sixth in the points table, with the Sharks seventh (41), Connacht eighth (39), Cardiff ninth (39) and Benetton 10th (38).
Only the top eight progress to the playoffs, with all of those teams, apart from Cardiff who have two games remaining, with three games remaining.
‘There is no magic potion’
“We have to win, that’s the most important thing,” White said ahead of his side’s game against Ulster in Belfast on Saturday night (9.35pm).
“We still have three games left. It’s like a golfer who has three long par fours into the wind and needs a birdie or two to make the cut.
The Bulls have had their ups and downs, with both the URC team and the Currie Cup team struggling to win.
“There’s no magic potion, no magic wand (to turn things around for the Bulls),” White said.
“You just have to keep going, and hopefully the cycle works. You just have to keep believing, keep working hard.
“We still have our destiny in our own hands. This is a competition… look at the Boks in the 2019 World Cup, they lost their opening game (against New Zealand) and won.
“We have to get into the playoffs and then it’s a new competition again, with three games to play. We haven’t won anything yet.”
Change the combination
White, who has been chopped and changed his team, trying different combinations, during the URC so far, said it is now important for people to keep this group of players who are in Belfast for the rest of the competition.
“I’ve been thinking and reading a lot recently. Maybe if I stuck with the same group week in and week out we’d get different results, but I’m not sure. That’s all I’ll know at the end of the season when we do a review.
“I have to keep this group now. I have changed the combination, changed the team, but now I have to see if by keeping this group we can change the result, because we are not where we want to be.
Ulster are third in the points table having won 10 of their 15 matches.
“They’re very good at home. They beat the Stormers 35-5 … they’re balanced and settled, have a lot of forwards … they’re a tough team to beat,” White said.