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- The Bulls' meeting with Benetton at Loftus this weekend will be an appropriate platform to show how they've adapted to life in Europe.
- Last year, the Italians taught Jake White's men a massive lesson in the Rainbow Cup final, especially in terms of how far off they were in certain aspects.
- But breakdown guru Nollis Marais believes an arduous journey has been them improve significantly.
If ever there's a match that will show how the Bulls have progressed from being the kingpins of South Africa to (eventual) tough nuts in the United Rugby Championship (URC), it will be Saturday's meeting with Benetton at Loftus.
Turn the clock back 10 months and one will be reminded of a certain Rainbow Cup final that ended with Jake White's troops being humbled 35-8 by the plucky, inspired Italians.
On that inauspicious afternoon in Treviso, the Bulls were - more than anything - hammered at the breakdown and suffered the consequences.
Benetton, conscious of how the home side struggled at ruck-time against the Stormers a fortnight ago, might believe a similar assault could be effective.
Yet, despite the sometimes painful process of getting there, the Bulls are starting to get a grip of the one area of the game that still tends to baffle the South African outfits in the URC.
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"For two years, we just played local sides (before the Rainbow Cup final)," Nollis Marais, the Bulls' breakdown coach, said on Tuesday.
"We saw the same pictures at the breakdowns and on attack for several months. Suddenly, you're flying to Italy and it's the first time in two years you're playing an overseas team that paints a totally different picture.
"That's where we realised that whatever level we thought we were operating on, we were behind the European sides. We needed to adapt very quicker.
"But, as we've been exposed to a bigger variety of teams, we've definitely become better. At the start of the campaign, we were one of the worst sides in terms of carries. Now we're one of the best. We've made a huge step up."
The pain was real though, especially after getting hammered by Leinster and Connacht in the first two fixtures of their opening tour last year.
"Jake was really good about this issue from the outset. He told us every time that we might think we're good, but we'll only really know once we're overseas.
"We found out those words were 100% true within the first two weeks of URC action. It was humbling but also enlightening because it was such a learning experience too," said Marais.
"It's nice to see obviously how the best in the competition do it, but we were immediately reminded that we needed to put things right."
A closer look at how the Bulls have steadily climbed into the top half of the URC log after losing five of their first six fixtures would certainly suggest that they have done just that.
Yet Benetton will be keen to show it's not been enough.
Kick-off at Loftus this Saturday is at 14:00.
