Cape Town - In the aftermath of their Currie Cup semi-final defeat to Western Province, Blue Bulls coach Frans Ludeke has highlighted the positives they can take from the season.
The Bulls season ended on a low note on Saturday when they were beaten 31-23 by their arch-rivals at Newlands.
The men from Pretoria had gone into the game confident of causing an upset after they appeared to find momentum at the tail-end of the season.
However, WP were at their counter-attacking best and despite struggling up front for large parts, did enough to exploit numerous mistakes from the Bulls to advance to the final.
Despite the disappointing end to the season, Ludeke believes there is hope for the future.
"A number of players put their hands up and the players' belief in what we're busy with and trying to achieve, is encouraging," he told Die Burger.
"It's a shame we couldn't score more tries, because we created a lot of opportunities. We'll work hard in the off-season on our finishing and being more patient on attack.
"Deon (Stegmann) has made great strides as captain, our scrum has improved and there was variation in our attack from set pieces."
Ludeke was also happy with the way the Bulls fought back to make the semi-finals after a torrid start in the competition, when they lost badly away to the Golden Lions (41-13) and WP (41-17).
The Bulls season ended on a low note on Saturday when they were beaten 31-23 by their arch-rivals at Newlands.
The men from Pretoria had gone into the game confident of causing an upset after they appeared to find momentum at the tail-end of the season.
However, WP were at their counter-attacking best and despite struggling up front for large parts, did enough to exploit numerous mistakes from the Bulls to advance to the final.
Despite the disappointing end to the season, Ludeke believes there is hope for the future.
"A number of players put their hands up and the players' belief in what we're busy with and trying to achieve, is encouraging," he told Die Burger.
"It's a shame we couldn't score more tries, because we created a lot of opportunities. We'll work hard in the off-season on our finishing and being more patient on attack.
"Deon (Stegmann) has made great strides as captain, our scrum has improved and there was variation in our attack from set pieces."
Ludeke was also happy with the way the Bulls fought back to make the semi-finals after a torrid start in the competition, when they lost badly away to the Golden Lions (41-13) and WP (41-17).