No 'fear factor' for these Bulls

His team may be propping up the foot of the Currie Cup table, but Blue Bulls coach Pine Pienaar want to see his young charges play with more freedom.

Speaking to this website ahead of their Round Six trip to Kimberley and an encounter with the vastly improved Griquas team, Pienaar admitted the "pressure is on" to start producing some victories.

The humiliation at the hands of Western Province in Week Four and last week's loss to the Golden Lions left the Bulls seven points off the table-topping Province outfit.

But it is far from 'doom and gloom' in Pretoria, where the coach believes that they can turn it around if the players play with freedom and not allow the fear of failure to grip them.

With their focus on Griquas and knowing exactly how tough it will be in Kimberley, Pienaar admitted his team must perform "much better" than they did in the last two matches.

"The one aspect is on defence, where against the Lions and Western Province our one-on-one tackling was not always up to standard," the Bulls mentor said, when asked where things went wrong for his side.

"The other issue is that period just before and just after half-time. In both those game [against the Lions and WP] we conceded tries in that period. Those were 14-point swings, which is obviously a big issue. The moment you go behind with 12 points or more you start chasing the game.

"Against the Lions we did very well to get back [into the game] and trailed by just two points. However, with five minutes left in the game we had a scrum [inside our 22], the ball popped out at the side of the scrum, Michael Bondesio picked up and they scored. They also scored a try from a fortuitous chip-kick ... where the proverbial bounce of the ball went their way.

"I don't think the scoreline reflects how much we improved from the previous match against WP."

Pienaar said this week the focus has been very much on the mental aspects.

"I don't want the guys to doubt each other and doubt what we are doing," he told this website, adding: "We must go to Kimberley with a positive attitude.

"I don't want them to be scared to try things ... they must have the freedom to play if they see something is on. I want to empower them to express themselves.

"The moment you start worrying about losing, it takes the focus off what you can do and that is the message that we brought across this week.

"The key is that individuals should not attempt to do things on their own, we should work as a team to achieve what we set out. At times against WP and the Lions guys became a touch too individualistic. If we are under pressure, we must continue to function as a team.

"I don't want the players to be scare to go out and play and do what we worked on in training.

"As long as they believe in the system, it will happen.

"I want to see them go out there and have the courage to try the things we worked on, enforce out game on them. If you don't do that, you end up playing against yourself and that was one of our biggest problems against WP and the Lions.

"We have such dynamic young players, who bring a different dimension to the game, and you want to see them express themselves."

By Jan de Koning