Fatigue bites badly as wayward Bulls lament a most 'disappointing' season

The Bulls' abrupt end to a taxing season - they were eventually comprehensively outplayed 39-10 by the Cheetahs in Saturday's Currie Cup semi-final in Bloemfontein - was perfectly illustrative of a campaign where good (perhaps even lofty) intentions don't translate into success.

As Hugo van As, Wits' stalwart mentor in the Varsity Cup who's been employed as the men from Loftus' backline coach for the competition, almost poignantly noted, the core of the URC squad's continued willingness to put their bodies on the line was laudable in terms of attitude but it became abundantly clear on Saturday that they've been running on empty for some time.

And, in the end, 2022/23 will be mostly remembered for the wrong reasons. 

"It's been very disappointing. Let's be honest, the Bulls are a proud organisation and we're definitely not happy falling short in the quarter-finals of the URC and now the last four of the Currie Cup," said Van As. 

"However, credit must also go to this group, who decided that they want to participate and be part of this campaign, particularly in light of us being pretty much down and out after the first six rounds. There was a lot of character shown, but the outcomes weren't great.

"It's been a long season, this team has played a helluva lot of rugby. As much as these men showed resilience and a willingness to keep on fighting in making the semis, it probably counted against them in the end."

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Frustratingly, for all their waywardness and continued suspect discipline, the Bulls had more than enough opportunities to potentially run the high-flying hosts closer.

"In the first half, there were small margins. We had a lot of