The Bulls' home stretch is almost a thing of the past, their focus now being their away Super Rugby tour to Australasia, where picking up points will be non-negotiable in their quest for a play-off berth.

On Saturday night the Pretoria side capped their penultimate match at home with a hard-fought 35-33 victory over the Lions at Loftus Versfeld - vengeance for the last-minute 22-18 defeat to their Gauteng rivals a month ago.

The Bulls' next match at home will now be their last round-robin match of the season against a resurgent Cheetahs next month.

This week, Frans Ludeke's charges get an opportunity to recharge their batteries ahead of a tough trip to New Zealand and then Australia over the next month.

"What we have seen so far is that some of our SA teams have gone there and won. We need to go down there and do like we do every week. I know it's a cliché, but that is how a team needs to prepare," veteran lock and captain against the Lions, Victor Matfield, said.

"We need to put all our efforts into each week. We can't go there with a negative mindset. We want to continue playing the good attacking rugby we have been playing so far this season."

The defeat was disappointing for the Lions, who could have gone to the top of the SA conference had they beaten the Bulls.

This was the fifth defeat of the season for Johan Ackermann's pride, who have won six games so far this season to be within one win of last year's record effort as a stand- alone franchise from the Cats.

"The whole season we have struggled to start well. These games are in our own hands, but the mistakes we made and individual decisions let us down," Ackermann said.

"We won on the scoreboard in the second half, but matches are about a full 80 minutes."