Coach Johan Ackermann has called on the Bulls to sharpen their decision-making and execution as they prepare for the URC quarter-finals.
The Pretoria side booked a home playoff after a convincing 45-19 win over Benetton at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, setting up a last-eight clash with Munster a week from Saturday.
Ackermann, however, was quick to stress that there is still significant room for improvement, despite his side finishing the season strongly with five consecutive wins.
“There’s still a lot of work to be done,” Ackermann said. “There were soft moments and small mistakes that compounded pressure on ourselves. Those are the things we have to fix.”
The Bulls boss stressed that attacking accuracy will be a key focus area in the build-up to facing the former URC champions.
“It’s our general skill, finishing and decision-making that we have to focus on.
“You don’t want to give away 14 points through soft moments and poor decision-making,” Ackermann said of a sequence of play where the Bulls went from almost scoring to conceding.
“That’s the part we have to fix because if there’s more pressure on the game, like in a knockout match, it becomes very difficult to recover momentum.
“Myself and [assistant coach] Neil [de Bruin] want the players to have a go and we’ll never fault a player for trying. But you must make sure you execute. It’s all about execution.
“There were moments where we had four against two, or three against one, and then we kicked instead of passing. Then there were other situations where maybe we should have kicked.
“Those decisions and the execution around them are the areas we need to improve.”
The Bulls now have a week off due to the EPCR finals break, with several players also expected to attend the Springbok alignment camp during the downtime.
Ackermann believes the home advantage will be important in the knockout stage, but warned that standards will need to rise significantly against Munster.
“It’s always nice to play at home and hopefully we can use that to our advantage,” Ackermann said.
“Munster are a quality side with a lot of good internationals. We know we’ll have to lift our standards.”
