Frans Ludeke (Gallo)

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After conceding their first bonus point in the season, the Bulls know their defensive system let them down in the 50-35 victory over the Highlanders on Saturday, and while they are bursting with pride about their attack, which has seen three half centuries in four games, the amount of points they have conceded does not do justice to how well they have played this season.

As Ludeke rightly points out, there are still too many “soft moments” for the team where the opposition strike back quick and hard. The Bulls may have the firepower to outscore even the toughest opposition, but with the overseas leg of their Vodacom Super 14 campaign looming, they will want to tighten up their defence quickly before it becomes a problem for them.

Ludeke was the first to admit he wasn’t happy with the way the Bulls had defended against the Highlanders, where they let in five tries on the evening.

“We are definitely not happy with the defensive effort,” Ludeke added. “The players were the first to say that after the game in the change-room. But we will have to see where we can be sharper and stop these ‘soft moments’ creeping into our game. Luckily it is something we can do something about.

“We had a very good first half and finally our start was what we wanted. Unfortunately we went off the boil later, but that is the shape of the game and how it goes. The last few games before this we started badly and had to fight our way back into things. When we got our chances we took them and while we agree that the second half wasn’t a good one for us, we continued to be positive and carried on trying.

“It is part of the game, but we’re still searching for two good halves.”

While admitting there were “concentration problems” at time for the team, Captain Victor Matfield believes the errors are fixable, and the defending champions can fix them without it costing them.

“Our systems are in place but it is just players who make stupid mistakes at times in the game,” Matfield said.

“We will have to go back and work harder on it but we know we can rectify it. We just need to keep our concentration, especially after we had that great start to the game, the concentration levels dropped a bit.”

The good thing, from a South African aspect, is that if the Bulls can tighten up on defence, but keep their attacking prowess, they will be even more dangerous than they currently are.