Manuel challenges the Bulls players to take responsibility

Bulls backline coach David Manuel has challenged the players to take responsibility and finish their Super Rugby overseas tour on a positive note this week.

The Bulls lost heavily to the Blues and Chiefs in the first leg of their tour in Zealand and Manuel said they will have to minimize mistakes if they are to beat the Sunwolves in Tokyo on Saturday.

Before they toured overseas‚ the Bulls beat the Sunwolves at Loftus in what remains their only win of the campaign after five matches so far this season.

“There is a huge focus on ownership and players taking responsibility for their performances‚" he said on Tuesday.

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"Every player is a leader in his own right‚ if everybody can do that we will be better off. There has been a chat among us the coaches where we discussed the possibilities.

"We are not seeing the results and we are aware of the things that we need to do‚ things we need to better to make sure that results are in our favour.”

Manuel pointed out that poor discipline remains a problem and this has cost them opportunities to convert the chances they have been creating.

“If you look at our game against the Blues‚ we had a specific plan but our challenge was lack of discipline and executing the plan for eighty minutes.

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"Some of the big lessons we have learned so far this season are that we get a little bit over anxious.

"There is still a huge emphasis on the conversion rate like you saw against the Chiefs when we got there we got the points and that led to a good half when we led.

"But in the last 20 we had a little bit of ill discipline and we got punished for it‚” he added.

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“We need to correct the issues of decision-making at the right time‚ there were mistakes that the players know they should not have committed‚” he said‚ adding that going forward they want to make sure that there is continuity in combinations because certain key positions do not need to be changed often.

“We have put a high importance of games at home after this tour. There is a huge focus on ownership and players taking responsibility for their performances.

"I have been working with these players we know their abilities and what they can do.”

- TMG Digital/TMG Sport