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Pretoria - Bulls captain Victor Matfield said on Thursday that his men would treat their Super Rugby match against the Chiefs on Saturday as a final because another loss could put them out of contention for a place in the play-offs.
"We know we are always under threat and that is why it is important that we focus on ourselves and for us this is like a semi-final or a final - a must win - so we need to be mentally prepared when we get to Saturday," Matfield said.
The last time the Waikato side played in Pretoria was in the Super 14 final of 2009 - which the Bulls won 61-17.
Matfield and his men are therefore expecting the Chiefs to want to set the record straight and that only their best performance of the season will be good enough to end their current three-match losing streak.
The Bulls made two changes to their side that lost 21-26 to the Western Force last week with Gary Botha coming into the starting line-up ahead of Chiliboy Ralepelle.
In the other change, Francois Brummer replaces Jaco van der Westhuyzen on the bench.
"Even if our form doesn't show it, we are still the defending champions and everyone wants to beat the champions and they (the opposition) all see it as a chance to show their supporters what they can do," Matfield stressed.
The Bulls have only managed four victories in the season to date and are currently placed eighth on Super Rugby's combined log standing with 22 points.
What is of greater concern for the entire South African rugby fraternity is that they have only managed to beat bottom ranked sides in the Lions (twice), Cheetahs, and Hurricanes.
This sparked a negative outcry among Bulls supporters who have become accustomed to their team demolishing every team that crosses their path.
Matfield, however, insisted that they still have greater support than criticism.
"People might think there is a lot of negativity out there, but I only have to look at my twitter page and for every negative comment there are about 500 that say that they still back the Bulls.
"It is therefore important not to take one or two comments out of context. I really believe the fans still believe in us and believe we can turn things around."
What remains to be seen is how fans will react to their team wearing red jerseys - for sponsors Vodacom - on Saturday.
The Bulls will also bus in 500 supporters from Orlando to attend the match.
Teams:
Bulls:
15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Bjorn Basson, 13 Stephan Dippenaar, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Francois Hougaard, 10 Morne Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Dewald Potgieter, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Gary Botha, 1 Dean Greyling
Substitutes: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Rossouw de Klerk, 18 Flip van der Merwe, 19 Danie Rossouw, 20 Francois Brummer, 21 Gerhard van den Heever, 22 Derick Kuun
Chiefs:
TBA
