Bulls character tested by recent slump - Edgar Marutlulle

As a result, they have lost all four of their Currie Cup matches and been knocked out of the Champions Cup, while their feeder team, the University of Pretoria, went from reigning champions to relegated in the space of just a year. 

Marutlulle says this is just a test of their character.

"As you know, sport is a cycle in its nature. We had every single trophy in South Africa at Loftus, I think, probably, last year. It's definitely not a prosperous time at the moment," admitted Marutlulle.

"But it's moments like these we find and develop the next players, with resilience, strength and we find a way to move forward because we definitely are checking every single avenue or place.

"But, I mean, to say that it's a difficult time in Pretoria, it definitely is, but I don't think we're that far off, to have won every single competition last year."

Marutlulle argues their struggles are a result of the loss of players from their structures to other unions, but he remains confident they will overcome this phase.

"We've got to go through it, man. We've also got to understand that there's been a massive amount of exodus in terms of players within the Pretoria region, based on the success of what we've done over the last years," he added.

"If you look at the Griquas, 70 percent of the team was the Bulls under-21s, Tuks players; if you look at the Pumas, all of them are all Bulls under-23 players that also left Tuks.

"I think our system has let go of some of those players that were just too young for the system, and unfortunately, when they're meant to be playing Currie Cup now, they're playing for different teams. But we'll come back stronger."