The Bulls are arguably the best provincial side in South Africa and the Southern hemisphere, largely the result of great depth, planning and foresight.

I believe the Bulls are so successful because of their off field structures and attitude.

They have great depth, great attitudes and a great atmosphere. This extends from the board to the coaches to the young Bulletjies coming through the junior ranks.

Even though the Bulls recruit from all around the country, they usually do so with young guys who embrace the union and make Pretoria their home.

It creates a family focused on rugby and results, but also a tight knit group of guys who play for each other, the jersey and what the Bulls represent.

It has nothing to do with the available talent or luck.

DEPTH HIGHLIGHTED AGAINST HIGHLANDERS

The Bulls decided to rest Springbok lock Bakkies Botha this week who sustained a bruised foot against the Cheetahs.

Coach Frans Ludeke has been able to replace Botha with another Springbok in Danie Rossouw, who with 103 Super Rugby caps is more experienced in this competition than the man he is replacing!

Yet another Springbok, Flip van der Merwe is also on the bench, with the highly promising Juandre Kruger also on the bench. Another promising player Fudge Mabeta is 5th in line!

METICULOUS PLANNING

Frans Ludeke has a plethora of riches at lock and most of the forward positions. The depth at hooker has been tested slightly with the departure of Bandise Maku, but even with an injury to Gary Botha, Ludeke still has a Springbok in Chiliboy Ralepelle and a 2 time Super Rugby winning (2007 and 2009) hooker replacement.

The area the Bulls look lightest in is a flyhalf replacement and the centres. There is young talent coming through, but it may be a couple of years before there is real depth there.

“The Bulls worked for the last 10 years to get into a situation to have such depth and the loyalty of players like Danie and Flip (Van der Merwe) is amazing because they could have gone to other unions long ago and earned starting berths” said Ludeke.

Captain Victor Matfield highlighted the vision and family values as key areas for his sides strength.

“For us it is about building and we have been doing that at the Bulls for the last few years” said Matfield.

“We are like a family and that is why we have guys like Danie and Flip who will play second-fiddle to a guy like Bakkies – they want to be part of something special.”