Bulls winger Madosh Tambwe believes victory over Ulster at Loftus on Saturday will keep them on the right path to achieve their mission of reaching the United Rugby Championship (URC) playoffs.

One of the Bulls' outstanding players in the competition, 24-year-old Tambwe will be a key performer for coach Jake White as they aim to secure six consecutive victories against second-placed Ulster.

The Bulls started the campaign slowly but have picked up form and consistency and go into this clash seventh in the standings (37 points), a point below the sixth-placed Stormers who top the SA conference.

“After the losses against the Sharks and Stormers we told ourselves we were going to take pride in playing at home and we have managed to get some good wins under the belt,” Tambwe said.

“It gives us confidence going into the week knowing that we are playing at home and we haven’t lost here in four games.”

After the Pretoria team managed only one win in their opening four matches of the season in Europe, they have claimed the scalps of all three European visiting teams at Loftus — Munster, Scarlets and the Dragons.

“When we went to Europe the conditions were not that bad except the game we played against Connacht. Irrespective of where you play, you need to be professional and good enough to play. You won't always be playing at home.

“Playing at home has its advantages. You know the feeling of the field, the supporters are behind you and your family is always around the corner to give support at the game.

“Nonetheless, wherever you play you need to do your best.”

With the URC campaign in its second half the Bulls have their eyes on reaching the playoff stages.

“The objective stays the same, we want to finish in the top eight and go to the playoffs.

“Once we get to that stage we’ll let everything play its course. Our objective is to keep accumulating as many points as we can and keep putting pressure on the teams ahead of us.

“Hopefully, we’ll get to the playoffs, play the quarterfinals, move on to the semifinals and the final. Nothing is impossible, because we have the talent, we’ve been playing well and the guys seem confident.”

With their match against Ulster up next, Tambwe is under no illusion his team has a tough task ahead of them.

“Before we played Leinster and Connacht, none of the other franchises had played the Irish teams. So we never really understood how they play, but now we’ve got the gist of how each team plays.

“We know that Ulster will go the full 80 minutes. They will test your skills set, they will test your defensive systems.

“I think we are in a better place than last year when we started the competition. We have a fair platform to test ourselves against those teams.

“It’s more or less the same as playing New Zealand teams. We know they will play a full 80 minutes; they’ll be skillful and they will test you in all aspects of the game.

“There isn’t much difference between the URC and Super Rugby. The intensity is just as high and the game is just as quick.”

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