In 2018, the participated in the 2018 Super Rugby competition, the 23rd edition of the competition since its inception in 1996. They were included in the South African Conference of the competition, along with the , , and .

The Bulls won six and lost ten of their matches during the regular season of the competition to finish bottom of the South African Conference, and in 12th place overall.

Personnel

Coaches and management

The Bulls coaching and management staff for the 2018 Super Rugby season were:

2018 Bulls coaches and management Name Title John Mitchell Head coach and defense coach Hayden Groepes Assistant coach (skills, attack and kicking) Pote Human Assistant coach (forward coach and lineouts) Gary Botha Assistant coach (forward coach and scrums) Elias Bennett Baggage and kit master Dr Herman Rossouw Team doctor Lance Lemmetjies Team physio Pieter du Plessis Team physio Juandre Williams Senior rehab specialist Jacus Coetzee Strength and conditioning coach Ghafoer Luckan Strength and conditioning coach John William Meyer Technical analyst

Squad

The following players were named in the Bulls squad for the 2018 Super Rugby season:

2018 Bulls squad Player Position/s Date of birth (age) Super Rugby Bulls Apps Pts Apps Pts Flank 3 0 3 0 Number eight 0 0 0 0 Prop 0 0 0 0 Loose forward 16 5 0 0 Fly-half 29 235 0 0 Fly-half 26 138 22 121 Lock 50 10 10 5 Loose forward 18 15 18 15 Lock 0 0 0 0 Fullback / Centre 19 25 19 25 Prop 26 5 26 5 Hooker 0 0 0 0 Fly-half 0 0 0 0 Wing 28 40 28 40 Centre 0 0 0 0 Lock / Flank 28 25 28 25 Flank / Lock 28 10 28 10 Centre / Wing 19 5 0 0 Centre 45 35 45 35 Fly-half 0 0 0 0 Loose forward 18 15 18 15 Hooker 31 20 6 0 Prop 0 0 0 0 Wing 4 15 4 15 Prop 2 0 2 0 Lock 0 0 0 0 Prop 81 15 39 0 Centre 33 15 33 15 Scrum-half 0 0 0 0 Fly-half / Centre 31 293 31 293 Outside back 0 0 0 0 Prop 24 10 24 10 Flank 13 5 13 5 Prop 0 0 0 0 Lock 25 10 25 10 Lock 0 0 0 0 Loose forward 11 0 11 0 Outside back 2 0 2 0 Hooker 143 70 46 30 Centre 9 10 9 10 Wing 20 35 20 35 Lock 2 0 2 0 Loose forward 0 0 0 0 Prop 6 0 6 0 Prop 2 0 0 0 Scrum-half 6 0 6 0 Hooker 20 5 20 5 Scrum-half 2 0 2 0 Note: Players' ages and statistics are correct as of 17 February 2018, the date of the opening round of the competition.

Standings

Round-by-round

The table below shows the Bulls' progression throughout the season. For each round, their cumulative points total is shown with the overall log position:

Team R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 R10 R11 R12 R13 R14 R15 R16 R17 R18 R19 QF SF Final Opposition Bye Bye Bye Cumulative Points 0 4 4 5 5 5 9 9 14 19 20 20 24 24 24 24 25 29 29 Position (overall) 6th 8th 9th 10th 13th 14th 12th 12th 8th 8th 9th 11th 9th 10th 11th 12th 11th 12th 12th Position (SA Conf.) 4th 3rd 3rd 3rd 4th 5th 4th 4th 2nd 2nd 3rd 5th 3rd 4th 5th 5th 4th 5th 5th Key: win draw loss bye

Matches

The Bulls played the following matches during the 2018 Super Rugby season:

Player statistics

The Super Rugby appearance record for players that represented the Bulls in 2018 is as follows:

2018 Bulls player statistics Player name QF SF F App Try Con Pen DG Pts 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11 1 0 0 0 5 2 2 2 2 2 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 2 2 2 2 16 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 3 18 18 18 18 17 18 17 18 10 0 0 0 0 0 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 14 0 0 0 0 0 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 10 3 0 0 0 15 6 6 6 6 6 20 20 6 20 6 6 6 12 2 0 0 0 10 7 7 7 7 7 7 8 8 19 7 20 19 19 7 14 0 0 0 0 0 8 8 7 8 7 8 8 8 8 8 10 0 0 0 0 0 9 9 9 9 21 21 9 21 21 21 21 11 3 0 0 0 15 10 12 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 12 10 10 10 15 5 40 13 0 144 11 11 12 23 23 14 14 14 14 14 11 11 11 12 12 15 7 0 0 0 35 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 10 0 0 0 0 0 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 16 8 0 0 0 40 14 14 14 14 14 23 23 14 14 14 14 11 2 0 0 0 10 15 15 23 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 23 23 23 11 11 15 14 3 0 0 0 15 16 16 16 16 16 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 16 13 5 0 0 0 25 17 17 17 17 17 17 17 17 1 1 1 11 1 0 0 0 5 18 18 18 18 3 18 3 3 3 3 3 11 1 0 0 0 5 19 19 8 20 19 20 20 7 20 20 20 11 1 0 0 0 5 20 20 20 20 20 6 6 8 6 6 8 8 8 6 6 6 16 2 0 0 0 10 21 21 21 21 9 21 21 9 9 21 10 1 0 0 0 5 22 10 22 3 0 1 3 0 11 23 11 23 23 23 4 0 0 0 0 0 22 1 0 2 0 0 4 23 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 12 15 7 0 0 0 35 18 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 1 1 10 0 0 0 0 0 19 19 4 5 19 19 7 7 7 4 4 4 12 2 0 0 0 10 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 10 22 22 22 10 8 1 4 0 0 13 8 1 0 0 0 0 0 19 4 19 19 3 0 0 0 0 0 21 9 9 9 9 21 9 9 9 21 9 11 0 0 0 0 0 19 19 4 3 0 0 0 0 0 20 1 0 0 0 0 0 17 17 17 3 0 0 0 0 0 22 1 0 0 0 0 0 18 17 17 2 0 0 0 0 0 7 7 4 3 0 0 0 0 0 14 14 11 3 2 0 0 0 10 16 16 2 0 0 0 0 0 17 0 0 0 0 0 0 18 18 18 3 0 0 0 0 0 23 23 23 2 0 0 0 0 0 16 1 0 0 0 0 0 19 1 0 0 0 0 0 22 1 0 0 0 0 0 penalty try – 2 – – – 14 Total 16 59 47 16 0 441

(c) denotes the team captain. For each match, the player's squad number is shown. Starting players are numbered 1 to 15, while the replacements are numbered 16 to 22. If a replacement made an appearance in the match, it is indicated by . "App" refers to the number of appearances made by the player, "Try" to the number of tries scored by the player, "Kck" to the number of points scored via kicks (conversions, penalties or drop goals) and "Pts" refer to the total number of points scored by the player.

Aston Fortuin, Ruan Steenkamp and Jade Stighling did not make any appearances.

See also

Bulls 2018 Super Rugby season

References