'Better and faster' Bulls head to Cape Town

REACTION: Gert Smal promised the Bulls will be more of an attacking threat when they face the Western Province.

The Bulls opened their Currie Cup season with a hard-fought 33-19 win over the Pumas on Friday.

It was not one of the most accomplished performances by the defending champions, despite the majority of United Rugby Championship players.

However, their boasting scrums helped them secure an away bonus-point victory - scoring four tries Embrose Papier, Ruan Nortje, Johan Grobbelaar and WJ Steenkamp -  in wet weather conditions.

"We had a different way we wanted to approach the game,” Bulls coach Gert Smal admitted after the win in Nelspruit.

“We wanted to make it a more attractive and faster game but because of the weather conditions, the game slowed down.

“Hopefully we can just improve from this game,”

Smal identified the scrums and maul as major positives but admitted there is room for improvement.

“Our scrum was better but it is still a work in progress.

“I think we did quite well with our mauls they didn’t really stop us.  Pumas went offside a couple of times and were penalised and that gave us a penalty advantage and scored.

He explained: “We actually scored from two mauls so it is important that we always work on that to make it evens better,”

Smal’s next challenge is a trip to his former stomping ground the Western Province.

He led the WP to two Currie Cup titles in 2000 and 2001 and later returned to take up the role as Director of Rugby in 2014.

Asked whether the Bulls will change their approach against Province, Smal said: “The team going to Western Province is going to be different but very exciting.

“It will be a good mix of a couple of youngsters and a couple of older players.

“I really can't wait for the opportunity to see them play again,”

He added: “We know there are areas we want to improve.

"We want to become better, faster and make the game more attractive,”

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