Bulls coach Frans Ludeke looked as far back as a decade for inspiration after his team squandered a chance to record their first win of the Super Rugby season.

Having lost their opening fixture of the season at Loftus Versfeld to the Stormers, the Bulls did it again last Friday when replacement lock Grant Hattingh put a hand on the touchline in dotting down what would have been the winning try in their 17-13 defeat to the visiting Hurricanes.

The upshot is that the Bulls are 13th on the combined log and are only second from bottom of the South African conference by virtue of the losing bonus point against the Hurricanes, who look to be early season frontrunners after winning two games in SA for the first time since 2006.

But Ludeke pointed to 2005, when the Bulls had a nightmare start to the season and still made the semifinals.

"We've seen a lot of teams losing their first four or five games," he said. "In 2005 we lost our first five games. It's all about just getting back on the horse and getting that first win behind your back."

Ludeke was also not interested in feeling sorry for himself or his team: "When you have two performances like that, I think the best thing to do is to keep quiet and fix it. We know the areas [that need work], there are no grey areas.

"We just need to improve. This week we were a bit better, but not good enough."