Bulls get onto the winning trail

Bulls coach Nollis Marais is resigned to losing Renaldo Bothma for a period as the flanker has a date with the Sanzaar Foul Play Review Committee today for dangerous play.

Bothma, not included in the Bulls squad for a trip to New Zealand and Japan over the next three weeks, received a straight red for a dangerous tackle during their 34-21 win over the Sunwolves at Loftus on Friday night.

"When I saw it, I knew it was a red card. They have made it clear to us and everyone about the rules of tackling in the competition and we must respect and accept it," Marais said.

The Bulls are scheduled to play the Blues and Chiefs in Auckland and Waikato respectively before rounding off their overseas assignments with another date with the Sunwolves at the Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium in Tokyo over the next three weeks.

Victory for the Bulls against the Sunwolves was influenced by two tries by centre Jan Serfontein and one each from prop Pierre Schoeman and lock Jason Jenkins, as they registered their first win of the season after defeats to the Stormers and Cheetahs.

Marais said Bothma's red card killed their momentum. "They scored a soft try before half time and the red card killed us in the second half. You can defend all you want but somewhere there is always going to be space and that's why we held back our substitutions," he said.

The Bulls won comfortably in front of a poor Loftus crowd.

"We made it difficult for ourselves at times but at the same time guys fought well considering that we had to play 40 minutes of the match with a man short against a team that likes to keep the ball," said the head coach. "We had a few opportunities to score and we should have closed the game early. There were a few mistakes before half time that allowed them back into the game.

"We did most of the attacking work in the first 30 minutes and we did not start that badly as the previous games against the Stormers and Cheetahs."