IT APPEARS that the Blue Bulls will again be culled early from the Currie Cup this season after the 26-15 defeat at home to the Sharks on Saturday.

They are, however, still holding onto hope that the remaining three games will produce something that will see them jump from sixth to fourth even though they are five points adrift on the standings.

Even the die-hard Bulls fans - the ones with the nose-rings, horny helmets and blue balls hanging from beneath their bakkies - can see those slim hopes starting to fade.

It was not that the Bulls were manhandled by the Sharks but that they succeeded in finding ways to lose the game when all the initial momentum was theirs.

The Bulls face the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein this weekend before going to Nelspruit to face the Pumas and rounding the season off with a home game against Griquas. They are stuck in No Man's Land again, much like last year, and have left themselves with the impossible to do just to get a pass into the semifinals.

Frans Ludeke, whose job is to keep optimism, remained hopeful that they could prolong their stay in the tournament, despite the poor display.

"We just need to step up in the vital final three rounds of the tournament," said Ludeke. "We'll stick to our processes, the same ones that got us out of the bad start that we had. We had some good results and we'll continue doing what we've been doing.

"We'll obviously have a good look at the line-out and see how we can be smarter there, so we can get quality possession ..."

Sharks coach Brad Macleod-Henderson was especially glad that Springbok Lwazi Mvovo scored a try on his return from the national team.

Sitting on the sidelines can cause massive corrosion, but Mvovo showed little signs of rust on Saturday as he pounced on a misplaced Burger Odendaal pass to score just before half-time. "Lwazi is a fantastic rugby player, he's not a Springbok for nothing," said Macleod-Henderson.