Bulls boss bemoans leaky defence in Champions Cup rout

The Pretoria franchise was still in the contest at 14-5 down at the break, but a rampant Saints side ran in six unanswered tries in the second stanza to put an exclamation point on a resounding victory.

Admittedly, it was always going to be a difficult task travelling to England to face a hungry Saints outfit without many Springboks available, but the blown-out scoreline is unacceptable for any coach.

"When you leak that amount of tries, you start questioning yourself as coaches and management," Ackermann told the press.

"We prepared the guys well during the week – Friday was one of our better training sessions, and it doesn't help that we lost by the margin that we lost.

"The only thing we can do is keep working with the individuals, keep working with the team, keep working at improving.

"I know talk is cheap because at the end of the day, the results are not showing that we're working on it, but I can promise that we are.

"When we pick players, there is an expectation that they can do the job - and we can keep working with them, then it's up to us to make sure they can do it.

"If we feel they can't do it, then we'll give the next guy an opportunity. 
if they are good enough to be signed by us, then hopefully they are good enough to perform.

"Nobody purposely goes out to make a mistake. We can only work on the errors, continue to put players in those situations, try things, or work on a plan not to make those mistakes, and exit our half better. Then we must go and carry it out.

"Naturally, we won't give up. It's part of life. There are people fighting cancer, poverty, and war. Losing isn't nice, but it tests your character to see whether you will lie down or stand up."

It's out of the frying pan and into the fire for the Bulls. They now turn their attention to the United Rugby Championship, where three bruising derbies await. They face the Sharks in Durban this weekend, then back-to-back clashes against the undefeated Stormers home and away.

"We arrive back home on Tuesday, so we'll have only Thursday and Friday to train before we fly down to Durban," added Ackermann.

"There are a lot of injuries and a lot of niggles in the team at the moment. We'll have to see who's fit, who's ready to go, and then pick a team.

"I think it's more about getting the mind positive, getting the bodies healed up and full of energy, and then going to challenge a good Sharks side in Durban.

"If we can get through that game, we've got a week off, and then it's a big challenge against the Stormers, who are obviously in great form. It's not an easy two weeks, but the only thing we can control now is getting 23 players fit and healthy.