Not even the second-half heroics of Springbok No 8 Cameron Hanekom could inspire the Bulls to a first win in the Champions Cup.
It was instead Northampton Saints who took their chances and scored four tries to claim a bonus point 30-21 at Loftus Versfeld against the home side on Saturday afternoon.
Wasted opportunities hampered the Bulls heavily, and they will look back at this match as one they chucked away with uncharacteristic handling errors, an inability to finish off good line-breaks and terrible decision-making in favourable positions on the field.
The Bulls dominated the scrums, and penalties came their way regularly in the first half.
How they failed to make use of this weapon to get points on the board, only they can answer.
Hanekom, though, was good throughout the clash, and started the match off with a brilliant steal at the breakdown.
He also had a couple of brilliant runs with ball-in-hand to claim the Player of the Match award.
Fellow loose forward Marcell Coetzee also pulled his weight in the first half, scoring his team’s only try with a storming run through some defenders.
While the scrum worked, the rest of the Bulls players were not on par with Hanekom and Coetzee.
The first half could only be described as a shambles for the home side.
When a try by wing Devon Williams was cancelled after obstruction in the midfield, the Bulls – who looked hungry in the opening exchanges – fell apart minute by minute.
There were dropped passes by seasoned players like fullback Willie le Roux, Wilco Louw and captain Elrigh Louw, and they failed to protect their possession at the breakdown.
When they claimed penalties through their scrum right in front for an easy three points, they instead went to the corner and fumbled their lineouts and rolling mauls.
That was the story of the first 40 minutes for the home side, as they did not play as a unit and looked very individualistic.
What went right for the Bulls, though, were the scrums, where the front row of Gerhard Steenekamp, Akker van der Merwe and Wilco Louw crushed the Saints.
It was so overpowering that the visitors lost their loosehead prop Emmanuel Iyogun to a yellow card late in the first half for repeated infringements.
But during the yellow-card period, the Saints found the tryline when the Bulls led 7-5, and turned that deficit into a halftime lead of 12-7.
While the Bulls still had the upper hand in the scrums, the second half was almost a carbon copy of the missed opportunities of the first.
Le Roux and fellow Bok Canan Moodie chased a neat chip behind the tryline, but both failed to dot down and the five-pointer was cancelled with a knock-on.
Should the try have stood, the conversion was an easy one and could’ve turned the tide for the hosts if they had taken the lead.
The stats will be alarming for the Bulls. If you enjoy 61% of possession and 69% of territory, you must be more dominant.
But the Pretoria outfit were wasteful, and probably spilled the chance to qualify for the knockouts with their second loss in the group stages.
They still have two more clashes in January, but with zero points from two matches, it’s highly unlikely that they will progress.
Points-Scorers
Bulls 21 – Tries: Marcell Coetzee, Cameron Hanekom (2). Conversions: Johan Goosen (3).
Northampton Saints 30 – Tries: George Hendy, Juarno Augustus, Tommy Freeman (2). Conversions: Fin Smith (2). Penalties: Smith (2).