'Leinster is a different beast' warns Pienaar

The Bulls recorded a 78-12 win over Zebre on Saturday at Ellis Park. The win means the Bulls are seventh on the overall log with 48 points.

There has been a major shift in the Bulls’ camp since ending their 10-match losing streak in all competitions last week against the Griquas in the Currie Cup.

Since then the franchise has recorded a win over Sharks on Friday in the Currie Cup and on Saturday delivered arguably their best performance of the United Rugby Championship season against Zebre.

The Bulls dominated the encounter from the start, scoring 11 tries in their onslaught.

“We are happy with the performance,” Bulls assistant coach Pine Pienaar told reporters in the wake of the victory at Ellis Park.

“But there were certain areas that we were not happy with when not looking at the score. We have to make sure we fix the things we have been working on the last few weeks, so there is still hard work left for us going into next week.

“We don’t know where we are going to finish, so for us, it’s important that we nail next week first — it’s going to be a different beast against Leinster.”

Pienaar revealed that discipline was the one area the team work hard on to improve, which was evident on Saturday.

The side only conceded seven penalties, while in Round 16 they conceded 17 penalties against Ulster.

“The message was that we have to try to stay a little bit cleaner on the discipline side,” Pienaar said.

“Don’t give opposition easy entries into our 22. Unfortunately at certain stages, we got on the wrong side of the referee.

“But the big focus point for us is to make sure we don’t concede penalties in certain areas of the field.”

The Bulls will have their work cut out for them when they take on Leinster in the final round-robin of the competition.

Pienaar admitted it is difficult finding a weakness in the Leinster setup. However, has urged his side to be on their game if they want a result.

“They are a quality outfit. They have yet to lose,” Pienaar said when asked about Leinster.

“If you look at the stats they are the best attacking and defensive side in the competition. Not a lot wrong with the team that’s one of the European leaders.

“We will have to try to find areas that we can [exploit], and we just have to make sure we are at our very best next weekend.”