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Pretoria - Vodacom Blue Bulls coach Nollis Marais believes that his team needs to tighten their defence ahead of Saturday’s Currie Cup clash against the Cell C Sharks in Durban.
After three rounds of the competition the Blue Bulls have been in try-scoring form by dotting down 15 times at an average of five a game, but in the same breath have let in just as many tries as they scored in a competition they desperately want to win.
Marais knows that at some point the defensive errors are going to catch up with the side, but he believes that they can turn it around and help themselves in their race to get to the Currie Cup playoffs.
The Bulls coach didn’t mince his words in saying that the team had let themselves down with the way they defended.
“We let in 15 tries in three games, so it is something that is a big issue for us,” Marais said.
“It is something that Pine has been working on and we’ve spoken to the leadership group as well, because we cannot be No 1 or two in Super Rugby in terms of defence, and then your defence is like that in the Currie Cup.”
Marais said that his side needed to take a massive step up this weekend in Durban.
“It is a huge step up that we have to take. We dropped ourselves in the last three matches and we need to fix it, because the Sharks will exploit it.”
Marais pointed out the fact that the team reviews had shown that individual errors rather than a system failure had cost them.
“It is individual errors, we used the same system in Super Rugby and we were very good there. It is just individuals making small errors – like when they’re supposed not to fold, they fold and things like that.
“But we are working very hard to make sure we are much better this week.”
The Sharks are unbeaten after three games.
Read the story on SuperSport.com.
