Exciting Bulls lock forward Sintu Manjezi is enjoying his new surroundings at Loftus where he is sponging as much information from coach Jake White and experienced campaigners like Duane Vermeulen‚ Nizaam Carr and Arno Botha as he can.

The highly-rated 25-year-old lock forward‚ who doesn’t have a preference of playing lock or flank‚ joined the Bulls from the Cheetahs at the beginning of July to add firepower to their tight five.

“Life at the Bulls has been good‚ I have been put through my paces and there are a lot of experienced guys here like Duane‚ Nizaam and Arno to learn from. I am learning as much as possible from them and that will help to make me a better player‚” he said as the Bulls prepared to host the Sharks on Saturday.

Manjezi added that he is enjoying working with White because of his vast experience and the fact that he allows them to express themselves.

“Coach Jake allows us to express ourselves and we have an opportunity to keep doing that. He doesn’t want us to be in a box and not play the rugby that we want to play – he also allows us to express ourselves within the system.

“If you look at the warm-up game against the Sharks‚ we moved the ball but we also feel that we can play tight‚ maul it up and be physical with our forwards. It is a combination of a few things and I am enjoying being a part of.

“Whether I play lock or flank‚ I don’t have a preference truth be told. I am happy to play where the team wants me to play.”

The Bulls lost to the Cheetahs last weekend and Manjezi said they took positives from the outing in Bloemfontein.

“Obviously last weekend didn’t go our way and we were disappointed but there are a lot of takeaways that Jake White pointed out to us going into the Sharks game.

“We missed a few opportunities when we got into the 22 area of the Cheetahs but it is something that we will look to rectify.

“The approach to the Sharks game will be the same and we will set ourselves new goals to go and achieve. We can’t change last week’s results but we must keep our focus.

“It’s only been two games into the season and we have an opportunity to bounce back against the Sharks and that’s what we will try to do. It just sticking to the basics within the system – I think the system protects us if we are able to stick within it. We just have to keep on doing what we do well and just focus on that.”